Chương 71: George’s Run (VI)

Entering Scenario Room Six Objective: There are four inactive portals in this room. The portals lead to easy, medium, hard, or extremely hard scenario rooms, respectively. Upon entering, you will have the opportunity to answer questions about your own life. Your performance on the quiz determines which portal activates. Focus Stats: Recall, Mnemosyne Difficulty: Various Like most of the other rooms, this room was a blank-walled cube. Four inactive portal doorways stood on the far wall.

Each had a glowing green light above it. As soon as George stepped into the room, a text box appeared in front of him. Question One What was your father's name? A. August B. Cal C. Hank >>I have no idea. >>Just make a guess. George said, "August." Incorrect. The correct answer is B. Cal. The green light over the portal that said "easy" blinked off. Immediately, the next question appeared in George's vision. Question Two What killed Jane? A. Her cancer came out of remission B.

A drunk driver on the wrong side of the highway C. An aneurysm >>Yikes. That is dark. George didn't remember his ex-wife, but he still felt like he'd been punched. He stared at the text in front of him and drew in a slow breath. He opened his mouth to speak but it was like the question had wiped his mind to nothing. He wanted to lie down. >>Just pick B, George. It is the statistically most likely cause of death.

"B," George whispered. Correct. No new green lights shut off. Question Three You called Katherine Kat, but what did you call Christopher? A. Chris B. CJ C. Kit >>I know you only have, like, four memories from your old life, but I thought we'd do better than random guesses on these. >>I called him Christopher in the memory. The one where I left him in that apartment. >>Yeah, but he told you he hated it when you called him that.

"Chris," George said. Incorrect. The correct answer is C. Kit. The green light over the "medium" door turned off. The portal to the "hard" room activated. >>Well, look on the bright side. We learned some things about your life. Plus, if we do have to guess, we have a one in three chance each time. Odds are we won't miss every question and end up in the extremely hard room. The nodling skittered forward through the now-open portal and Nod reported what it saw. >>There are a bunch of people. It's a… Renaissance fair?

>>Oh, it's a joust. George walked over to the portal and tentatively stepped through. Entering Scenario Room Seven Objective: Defeat the Black Knight Focus Stats: Strength, Lancecraft, Equine Facility Difficulty: Hard The first thing he noticed on the other side was the noise of the crowd. He emerged from the portal into a muddy oval of trampled earth. All around the arena were wooden stands holding people who all seemed to be cheering for him. A wooden rail ran down the length of the arena floor.

It was pocked and splintered from the violence of previous jousts. He looked to his left and he saw a massive white horse and a pair of young boys in tunics doing their best to hold a tall white lance upright. A third boy was beckoning him to step up a small set of stairs and mount the horse. >>Up you go, George. >>Just turn that shield on and put the lance in my hand. I'll take care of the rest. >>This will be a piece of cake. George stepped up the stairs and swung a leg over his horse.

The boys with the lance dragged the long, heavy pole toward him and lifted it into his hand. He squeezed the horse with his legs while also trying to get his feet in the stirrups so that he wouldn't fall sideways. That's when he saw his opponent. The black knight looked like half a giant. He was encased in interlocking, spiked pieces of black armor. The helmet tapered to a crown of spikes and only left a narrow slit across the eyes to see through. He looked like a pile of swords hammered into the shape of a man.

His horse wasn't a horse—it was a six-legged lizard creature that kept rearing its front two legs up and screaming. It reminded George of a vordigan—only twenty times the size of the small, black creatures. The knight held a long, black lance upright in one hand like it weighed nothing. >>And now we know why this is a "hard" scenario room. >>Do you think you can hit him—whoa! George's thought was interrupted as a pair of trumpets blew somewhere and his horse surged forward.

He still only had one foot in a stirrup and he nearly fell off when the horse started running. He hadn't even activated his shield. He dropped the lance immediately as the top half of his body tipped backward under the force of the horse's acceleration. He gripped the pommel of the saddle and tried to sit up, but the animal's stride flopped his torso up and down and George's free foot flailed against its flank. He groaned and pulled himself up enough to look ahead of him.

The other knight, who had seemed so far away moments ago, closed the distance faster than George could have imagined. The knight's lance dipped and hit George squarely in the chest. The impact flung him backwards out of the saddle as his legs flew into the air. He landed face-first in the mud, the impact blasting the air from his lungs. >>Get up, George. >>The black knight is slowing down. George pushed himself to his hands and knees. The visor of his helmet was covered in mud.

He tried to clear it with his gauntlet, but it only smeared the mud around, leaving brown streaks that obscured his vision completely. >>GET UP! He is dismounting. George pushed himself to his feet and opened the store menu. Purchased: Clean Self—1 gold The mud on his helmet disappeared just in time for him to see the black knight walking toward him. He had produced a spiked ball and chain from somewhere and was starting to swing it in a circular arc at his side.

George tried to back up but his boots stuck in the mud and he only fell awkwardly sideways. The black knight closed the rest of the distance in two large steps and George managed to activate his shield just as the spiked ball at the end of the knight's weapon arced down at him. The shield crackled with energy but just as with every other time the shield had saved him, he didn't feel any of the impact on his arm. It was like the energy of the knight's attack had been completely negated by an immovable barrier.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. But the black knight didn't try to keep hammering away at the shield. He simply dropped his weapon in the mud and clamped one gauntleted hand around the rim of George's force shield. With a twist of inhuman strength, he wrenched it aside, dragging George's arm with it. George tried to pull himself free but the knight bore down on him.

His hand shot forward, steel fingers closing around George's neck, crushing his windpipe and pushing his head into the mud. George tried to draw breath, but he couldn't. His legs kicked uselessly in the mud but the knight would not be dislodged. Nod's hand pried ineffectually at the arm around George's throat. His last sight was the remorseless black helmet inches from his face. You have died. Continue?

Cost: 15 tokens (49 remaining) George gave his mental assent to pay the reset cost and he was suddenly back inside the first scenario room. He appeared on his back, in the same posture that he'd been in when he died, only instead of the knight's black helmet, he was staring up at the blank ceiling of the hallway. The utter silence of the long room was a stark contrast to the noise and chaos he had just left behind. He drew in a deep, ragged breath.

He turned his head to the side and saw Johnny's prize box tipped over on its side next to him. >>Whoa! That was inTENSE. >>Good thing I shut off my pain receptors as soon as you got on that horse. George rubbed his throat and coughed. Just like the previous resurrections, the pain of his death was completely gone, but the memory of not being able to draw a breath remained. >>George, you are racking up quite the death resume. You've been eaten, burned alive by dragon spit, and now asphyxiated by Sauron himself.

>>And as cool as those bragging rights are… we need to slow down the tempo, if you know what I mean. >>We need to get more bang from our reset-buck. >>If the cost of the resurrections keeps increasing by five prestige tokens each time, you've only got two resets left in the tank. >>So let's take a minute, choose some kickass upgrades in this relatively tame room where nothing is trying to drown, choke, or eat us, and then let's dive back into the fray.

"I'll keep that in mind when I get on that horse next time," George said. >>Yeah, just don't take the lance until you at least have your feet in the stirrups. I think that triggered the trumpets. >>Though starting the joust before you were ready was a low blow, in my opinion. Maybe the black knight is a hometown favorite or something.

"How are we going to kill the dragon, Nod?" George said, pushing himself to his feet. >>Obviously, we are going to carefully choose upgrades that will both permanently increase your mojo while also giving us an edge against the dragon. Easy.

"Sometimes when you say 'easy,' I become very nervous." >>When you're this small, your bravado has to pack a lot of punch. George picked up Johnny's prize box but as soon as he opened it, it popped out of existence and he got a notification. Prize Box of the Impromptu Getaway Unlocked: Choice of Three Quest Items George tossed the jet ski down on the floor in front of him and clicked the fob to restore it to its original size. He straddled it and gently turned the throttle so that it ambled forward.

>>I'm glad we got Jelly back. >>She really is a beaut.

"Which upgrades did we lose this time?" George said. >>I'll just pull up the lis— >>No! >>NOOOOO! >>Disaster! >>Woe!

"What is it?" George shouted. He heart rate shot up and he gunned the jet ski so that it shot forward down the hallway. >>My intraskeleton upgrade is gone. >>This sucks. George released the throttle and let the jet ski coast to a slower speed. >>You're developing quite the trauma response to emergency situations though, George. You didn't even blurt out one of your trademark emasculating screams this time. >>Calling up the remaining quest items now.

>>In addition to the intraskeleton upgrade, we can no longer choose the Jet Ski Hover Trailer + Survival Pack. >>Leaving the following options: • Book of the Wisdom of Elovar the Slick-Witted: Elovar the Slick-Witted was also known as Elovar the Hermit and Elovar the All-Knowing. He spent his life writing a 40-volume treatise of all his wisdom. This is the sole copy. Celestial Library enabled. • The Red Leather Jacket from Michael Jackson's "Thriller": Voidmetal-chestplate-compatible double-breasted sash.

Indestructible. Unlocks durability stat. Cherry red. • Two Additional Arms: Gain a set of combat-ready mid-torso arms. Includes gene modification and contract with House Lex. • Singularity Grenade: Just pull the pin and run. Very far. • MindWyrm "Trauma-B-Gone" Neural Fortifier Serum: Just when you thought you couldn't take it anymore, MindWyrm is there! This neural fortifier is guaranteed to strengthen you against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and get you back on your feet again!

• Adamantine Polymorph Crafter's Toolkit: Basic kit of polymorph-enabled crafter's tools. • Crafting Skill Upgrade: Unlock one skill from a menu of six advanced crafting skills. Upgrade the skill to level ten. • You Call This a Progression Fantasy?: Force unlock five stats. Upgrade them all to level 50. • Visit from a Dreamweaver Weaponwright: If you can dream it, the Gnostic Gnomes can help you kill things with it.

• Enigmatic Holographic Hand, Crafting edition: A force hand skill designed for crafters working with volatile materials. • Obtain the Sibilance >>Let's start eliminating options and see how far that gets us. >>I'm guessing that you are still against growing two more arms…?

"That's a big yes," George said. >>OK. Let's skip the one-off items; we'll be better off choosing permanent upgrades.

"Nix the Sibilance and the Thriller jacket," George said. >>Unless you object, I'm taking the mechanical dog familiar off the list. That has sibling rivalry written all over it. >>I wouldn't mind taking the book of wisdom off the list, too. Part of your charm as a person is how tabula rasa and naive your outlook on life is. Do we really want some crusty old hermit's opinions uploaded directly into your head? I think not. >>I also vote removing the PTSD serum.

You didn't seem too emotionally aware in your past life and I propose we continue the "bottle it up and lock it away" protocol henceforth. Not thinking about things too hard seems like an adaptive trait right now. >>Plus, I know how you feel about bodily parasites and that thing is called "MindWyrm." >>Two's company, three's a crowd.

"What does that leave us?" George said. >>Just the cream of the crop, Georgie. >>The one that unlocks five stats, the Dreamweaver Weaponwright, the holographic hand, the advanced crafting skill, and the crafter's toolkit. >>Due to the fact that I process thought at light speed, I already have my three picks, but—as a formality—let's check in with what you're thinking.

"It is hard to pass up unlocking five stats," George said. >>We're agreed on number one so far. What is your number two pick?

"We need a weapon if we are going to kill the dragon." >>Two for two. >>I'm imagining that anything called a "Dreamweaver Weaponwright" is going to be able to hook us up with some pretty sweet gear. >>I've got my fingers crossed for a lightsaber, naturally.

"OK. What is your number three?" >>This is where I think we might part ways. My pick is the holographic hand, but I think you're going the crafting skill.

"Yeah… that is what I was thinking," George said. >>George, you might be an enigma to yourself, but I can read you like a book. >>When given an initial skill choice that could lead him down a path of power, what does George choose? Crafting. >>And here we are facing a similar choice. Will George make a different choice? Why would he do that when he could double down on his old mistakes? George laughed.

"Ok, but you gotta admit. We have done pretty well so far with the crafting skills. I'm great in zero gravity." >>Could I borrow your hand for a minute for a quick facepalm? George still found himself smiling. A few minutes ago, he was being choked and somehow Nod's banter laughed the memory into the background of his mind.

"What is your case for the force hand?" George said. >>MY CASE IS THAT IT IS A FORCE HAND! >>Are you kidding me? We have a force shield and it is amazing. Just imagine if we could punch things with an invisible hand. >>The description said that it is made for handling volatile materials, so it's got to be super durable. >>I want to see you stand up from the mud and grab that knight's spiked ball and chain out of the air next time you see him. >>That's your hero moment, George!

>>Plus, look at how you've already changed so far in this game. There is clearly a hand theme going on.

"These are good points," George said.

"But here is my case for the crafting skill.

"First, it is an advanced crafting skill. If the basic skills are telekinesis by another name, what are the advanced skills going to be like?

"You are supposed to be able to make things with crafting. What if one of those skills lets me change what things are made of, or disassemble things with a thought, heat things up, or—I don't know—make planes of force that I can use as walls like the enclosures in the voting room?" >>Listen to you… >>"Planes of force"? >>Have you been reading sci-fi gamelit behind my back or something?

It seems like there are milestone bonuses out there for the taking if we can actually figure out how to use these crafting skills to make things. The catch with that is, the basic skills seem too basic to actually help. Maybe the advanced skills come with an expanded crafting knowledge base.

"Besides, whatever skill we choose starts at level ten. Our highest basic skill is only level 4," George said.

"Whatever it is, it will be powerful. And we might be able to share it with a nodling, too." George had kept the jet ski cruising at a slow pace and had made it halfway down the hall. The floor was starting to tilt upwards in a noticeable way. >>We're at an impasse. >>I want to make you into a magical boxer of death and you want to take your next step in your Sith-Lord-meets-TV-Repairman build. >>Are you going to play the "my body, my choice" card or let me have this one?

George took the Mentis token out of his pocket and said, "Let's flip for it." Cassie's white token gleamed in his hand.

"If it lands on the side with the rune on it, we get a force hand. If it lands rune side down, we pick the crafting skill." >>Without Cassie here to Bubblegum Bubblegum this for us, I suppose this is a fair alternative. >>I consent. George flipped the token into the air and watched it bounce on the ground, roll a bit, and then settle with the rune side down. >>Damn my fate.

"OK. Stats first." George raised his voice and said, "For my first pick, I choose You Call This a Progression Fantasy?"