BladeDust Online: A LitRPG Adventure (Book 1) Read online

  “If you can save me and Todd then I will forgive you. The name of this place is FlatFall. You gotta take a boat to get here. Ask around and find out how to get here. Save me and Todd, and you are forgiven. Get Todd first though. Add him as a friend. His name is “Todd The Wordsmith.” He has been waiting forever so send him a message now! I am about to message him soon too. Don't let me down.

  Walker.”

  I laid on my back. My eyes grew heavy as a sleepy feeling took over. I wanted to go to sleep, but I didn't know if I could trust the troll. I raised up and took a look at him. What the hell? He was just staring at me. “Getting sleepy?” he asked with a devious look on his face.

  “Maybe. I mean, maybe not. I don't know yet.”

  He rubbed his hands together. “You should probably get some rest.”

  “Yea? But why? Why do you want me to sleep?”

  He looked around as his body became hunched over. “Nothing in particular. I just enjoy watching people sleep sometimes. It's interesting to me. I like to wonder what that person is dreaming. Then, I also like to wonder if they are dreaming about me. Have you ever had a dream about me?”

  What was this lunatic talking about? Of course I had never had a dream about the little creep. “I don't think I have had a dream about you.”

  Douglas looked irritated. “We will fix that. Now won't we?”

  I surely hoped not. It was bad enough I had to share a cell with him. And I certainly didn't want him in my dreams. “Maybe,” I replied with an uneasy voice.

  I laid back down as I debated whether or not I wanted to sleep. My face was on the ground, and I could almost feel the little weirdo watching me. He had actually told me that he liked to watch people sleep. It was just so creepy. How was I ever suppose to fall to sleep knowing that he was watching me? I rolled to my side and looked up. Damn. His eyes were locked on to me. He waved. “Sleep well.”

  I rolled back to my side. Crap. This sucked. Was I going to have to actually tell him to stop watching me? Or did I need to slap him across the face? I didn't know. Screw it. I was just going to sleep. If he did anything weird, I would just have to fight him. I would show him that I was the king of this cell if that was what it came to. I took in a deep breath. My eyes closed. Slowly, I began to fall into a sleep like stage. Then suddenly, I saw his face. It was Douglas! My eyes popped open. Shit. I was seeing him in my dreams just like he had hoped. I rubbed my eyes and tried to get to sleep. It was a struggle, but I finally managed to fall to sleep after many minutes.

  Chapter Twenty One

  “Wake up,” a voice yelled. I opened my eyes and saw a man wearing golden shoulder blades. Under that, was silver armor. He had no helmet on and had curly black hair that was greasy. He looked to be in his mid thirties and I was pretty sure he was an NPC Guard.

  I yawned and raised up. The first thing I saw was Douglas. His eyes were wide as he watched me. Man, this little creep was dedicated. “Did you dream about me?” he asked with an eager voice.

  My mouth opened, but then it closed. I wasn't going to tell him what I saw. “No. Not at all,” I replied.

  Our cell door opened. The guard removed the chains from around my wrist. “Thank you,” I said.

  “Come with me,” he replied while grabbing my arm. As I walked away, Douglas waved at me. The cell door slammed shut. I was just thankful to be away from Douglas. Within moments, we were outside under the bright sun. We stood on a large square stone slab with pillars on each corner. I looked around at the large open area. I smiled. It didn't seem too bad. In front of me, stood two other prisoners. A guard walked over to us. “You three are questing together today.”

  That sounded pretty cool to me. But, I was hungry. I had not eaten much since I had arrived in the game world. It was weird, but hunger didn't build as quickly as it did in the real world. But, it was starting to hit me again. My stomach was beginning to growl. “Do we eat before we go out on a quest?”

  “Did you not eat today? Feeding time was just a few minutes ago.”

  “No. I didn't get any food.”

  The guard laughed. “Your cell mate ate it.”

  Douglas? That two faced little troll. How dare him eat my meal during my nap time. “When do we get fed again?”

  The guard looked up at the sky. “In about twenty four hours.”

  Screw that. I was going to find something to eat before then. There was plenty of grass and if I got hungry enough I would eat it. Besides, there must be a reason the cows loved grass so much. I looked at the other two players and examined their name tags and level:

  Leo Leo 2 – Level 04

  Human – Warrior

  and

  Grant Gordonson – Level 02

  Human - Barbarian

  Okay. This was cool. They were about on the same level as me. I was excited for a chance to level up with some other new players like myself. I walked over to Grant and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. My name is Walker.”

  “Same to you,” Grant replied.

  Leo introduced himself to Grant before making his way over to me. “The name's Leo. Let's do this.”

  Leo and Grant both wore the same basic outfit just like me. Leo had shaggy brown hair while Grant had lighter blonde hair. Grant's hair style was more of a “crew cut” type of look. They both looked to be in their mid twenties and seemed cool enough. Overall, they looked like solid questing partners. “So what do we do?” Leo asked.

  “Just walk out of here and go into the open field,” the guard replied.

  We all walked into the open field. There was a large green area surrounded by thick woods. To our left, there was a large pond. And to the right, there was some sort of city. It didn't look bad. In fact, it almost looked like the normal game world. But, in the far distance, I could see a very tall stone wall. My eyes scanned the wall. Yep, it went around the entire place. I guess that was the “barrier” to keep us from escaping. Great.

  Not far away, a man without a shirt on ran towards us. His face was bloody and it looked like someone had just given him a beating. He stopped in front of us. “I need your help. I was at home, and this goblin broke into my house. He told me that he wanted my home.”

  “We can take care of him,” Leo replied with a cocky tone in his voice.

  “He just started beating me. He wouldn't stop either. He kept saying that he deserved a better life than he was living. He said this was the first step to changing his future. So, he beat me and then threw me out of my own home. Can you kill this goblin?”

  Suddenly, a quest alert popped up in front of me:

  Quest Invitation!

  Kill the selfish home invading Goblin! Accept or Decline? Yes/No?

  I accepted the quest. “My home isn't far from here,” the man said while pointing to his left.

  “Consider it done,” Leo replied.

  We began to run. “Is there a quest icon that we can follow?”

  “Yea. Just go into your menu and look for the quest. You will be able to select it and the map will pop up. It's the blue diamond we are headed towards. Don't worry, I am already taking us there.”

  We ran for about five minutes before arrived at a charming little home. There was a small garden with a pig in it. I had to admit, the pig looked pleased with his current lifestyle. Leo opened the front door. There was nothing but silence. “I don't have a weapon,” I said with a whisper.

  “You can borrow this short sword,” Leo replied.

  A tiny little sword dropped on the ground. I picked it up and equipped it. I didn't have time to check my stats, but I was sure it sucked. Leo walked into the house as me and Grant followed. We carefully looked around, but didn't see the goblin. Then, there was the sound of rapid footsteps. It almost sounded like a rattle snake tail rattling. “Come out,” Leo yelled. “We know you are in here.”

  Suddenly, the goblin leaped on to Grant. Crap! He literally came out of nowhere. Grant began to scream. I pulled my sword out. The Goblin grabbed my blade and tried to stop
me. But, he couldn't. I stuck the sword straight into it's back. There was a thud as the goblin hit the floor. His body shriveled up. Wow. That was super easy. How strong was this short sword? Suddenly, I had an alert pop up. What the hell? I had leveled up? Already?

  Congratulations!

  You Have Leveled Up! Open Your Inventory To Distribute Points.

  I opened my inventory and got straight to business:

  Walker Williamson – Level 4

  Human Male - Warrior

  Statistics:

  HP: 16/16

  Stamina: 14

  Mana: 10

  Attributes:

  Strength: 10 (+3 added)

  Persuasion: 3

  Intelligence: 1

  Willpower: 1

  Sneak: 2

  Agility: 3 (+1 added)

  Skills:

  None yet acquired

  Perks:

  None yet acquired

  Abilities:

  None yet acquired

  Nice. I added 3 more points to my strength. I examined my arms. I wasn't sure if it was my imagination or not, but they seemed to be a little larger. “Does increasing strength actually create more muscle on you?” I asked.

  “Yea. You will become huge eventually,” Leo replied.

  Awesome! I could already feel myself getting stronger. My HP was at 16/16 now. Based on experience, I knew my health was restored when I leveled up, but I wanted to make sure this was always the case. “So HP Levels are always restored when you level up right?”

  “Yea. Unless you have some sort of fucked up disease or something. I have seen this happen to players before. But in general, your health is always restored when you level up.”

  “Okay cool,” I replied. “Did you level up? I leveled up quicker than I should have.”

  “Yea. I think it's some sort of bonus they give you for completing your first quest in FlatFall. That's what I've heard anyways.”

  That was pretty cool. I walked over to the goblin's loot and began to examine it:

  Wooden Spoon

  Value: 0.00

  Weight: 0.2 lb

  Gold: 0.15

  I examined the wooden spoon. It looked hand carved. Did the goblin carve spoons in his spare time? Did he just sit around and carve spoons all day? I didn't know, but I didn't want the spoon. I tossed it on the ground. At least I got a little bit of gold.

  Suddenly, Grant fell to his side. “That goblin took a chunk out of my chest.”

  I looked at Grant's chest. Man, it was bad. Leo ran to his side. “Grab his other arm,” he said while propping him up.

  I grabbed his arm and we helped carry Grant back to the dungeon. It was a struggle, but after about 15 minutes we made it back. “This man needs medical attention,” Leo yelled.

  The guard walked up to us. “Don't let this happen again,” he said. “We don't waste potions on low levels.”

  Two other guards ran beside Grant. They didn't say a word. They just got straight to business and dragged him away into another room. “Where are they taking him?” I asked.

  “They'll give him a healing potion,” the guard replied. “Only because he hasn't had a chance to fight in the coliseum yet. They always like to try new players out. You never know who will become the next crowd favorite.”

  Crowd favorite? That sounded pretty exciting. I looked at the sun above me. It was a nice day. In a weird way, it didn't seem that bad here. Maybe it was because I had always been so obsessed with coliseum fights. I always made it a point to play any game that had coliseum or arena battles. It was hard to believe I was actually living in this experience. Sure, this wasn't the same as playing a normal videogame. It was better than a videogame. I actually had a chance to become a real life coliseum champion. I walked towards Leo. “I wonder if we will have to fight each other. Do you think that is possible?”

  I think everyone fights,” he replied. “I hate to even bring this up, but I need my short sword back. It's the only other weapon I have.”

  I nodded. “Almost forgot. Here you go.”

  I dropped the sword on the ground. Then, without warning, the guard grabbed my arm. “Time to go back,” he said while forcing me to walk beside him. “See you later Leo,” I yelled.

  A guard grabbed Leo and took him back to his cell too. Once I arrived at my cell, I noticed Douglas was sleeping. When the cell door slammed shut, he popped up. “Welcome back. Did you go on a quest?”

  “Yea,” I replied. “It was just this simple little quest. We had to kill a goblin. It was kinda boring to be honest.”

  Douglas rubbed his eyes. “They said you are fighting tonight.”

  “What? Who said that?”

  “I heard the guards talking. They pointed at my cell and said two new arrivals are fighting tonight.”

  “Really? But, are you sure they meant me?”

  His head bounced up and down. “Of course. I am always sure when I say something.”

  “I don't even have a weapon. I'll die without a weapon.”

  Douglas laughed. “They match fairly. Don't worry. It will be a glorious hand to hand battle.”

  A hand to hand battle? I didn't have a ton of experience with hand to hand combat. It didn't matter though. I was excited. Excited to see what was going to happen. I wondered what it would be like to fight in front of a crowd. Would it be scary, or would the excitement drown that out? Suddenly, I remembered I needed to message Todd. Damn, why had I not messaged him yet? I quickly opened my messages and began to explain what had happened to me:

  “Hey Todd. I am sorry to say that I cannot find your soul. I got betrayed by a player and am now stuck in this place called FlatFall. I don't know any way out besides dying. But, that is a last resort. So, I guess I cannot save you? My friend Tommy says he is going to save you though. If you want, you can send him a friends request. His name is Tommy The First. Just tell him your location and he will try his best to find you. Hope you understand. Thanks

  Walker.”

  I felt bad that I couldn't save Todd. But, I had tried my best. Hopefully Tommy would save him, but I found it doubtful. I sat on the ground and looked at Douglas. He put one hand under his chin. “So tell me about yourself.”

  I didn't want to tell him about myself. I just wanted to sit alone in peace. “There's nothing to say. I'm just some guy.”

  Douglas pointed at me. “Don't be so modest. There was a reason why you were chosen to be put in my cell. The heavens must have something special planned for you.”

  I heard footsteps coming from outside of our cell. There were more than I had ever heard before. “What's all of that noise?” I asked.

  “New arrivals probably,” Douglas replied with a smile. “I like to look really angry when they walk by. Watch, watch me do it,” he yelled with excitement before jumping up and running to the bars.

  He wrapped both hands around the bars and then looked back at me. On his face, was the look of death. He turned back around as a few new prisoners walked past us. “Let me out of here,” Douglas screamed at the top of his lungs. “Just kill me already. Somebody please just kill me already!”

  His body began to shake as his hands held on to the bars. “My life is over,” he screamed. Then, he began to make these noises. Screams and random words came from the troll as he began to act insane. What the hell was wrong with this troll? He fell to the ground and began to pound on it. “Why me,” he screamed over and over.

  A few of the prisoners passing by looked scared. One even pointed at Douglas while taking a few steps away from him. “Oh my god. We are all gonna go insane like that troll,” the prisoner yelled.

  I walked closer to the bars. There were at least twenty new arrivals. Then, I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe what I saw. It was Cosmo! At the very end of the line, he slowly walked. The dragon tattoo on his face was something I would never forget. I shook my head back and forth. I had so much to say to him. But why was he here? Was he a prisoner too? It didn't make sense.

  Slowl
y, the line moved as he got closer and closer to my cell. Within moments, he was right in front of me. My hands lunged through the bars and grabbed his shirt. “You two faced bastard,” I growled as I yanked him closer to me. There was a pop as his faced slammed into the bars. He was surprised. One eye looked at me. “Walker?” he asked.

  “That's right. You piece of shit. It's me,” I yelled. “Why did you betray me? What did I ever do to you?”

  He grabbed my hands and broke my grip. “You did this to yourself. You shouldn't have been such a dumb ass. You don't just blindly follow and trust people.”