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

  “Yea,” Tommy replied with confusion. “I guess. But how are we going to use the army to get more money?”

  “We are going to raid bandit villages. Remember? That was what Todd told us. We need to find out how much gold these villages have.”

  Tommy perked up a little. “So we can get rich?”

  “Maybe,” I replied with a smile.

  I began to pace back and forth in the village. My boots splashed through the mud puddles as I went back and forth. I had so many thoughts. Where had Todd's soul gone? Could we find it? Then, my feet came to a stop. “We can't let the mage find Todd's soul. I think it's really bad news if he finds his soul.”

  “But, we barely even know the guy. He obviously got himself into some sort of mess with that mage.”

  “It doesn't matter. He saved my life. I must return the favor. What if finding his soul will save his life? I don't know how this all works, but I get the feeling that being a lost soul is bad news in this game.”

  “How are we going to save his soul though? We don't even where it is.”

  He was right. How were we supposed to know where a lost soul went? It was obvious, we were going to have to ask around and find out. But in the meantime, we needed to start an army. Without an army, we had no protection. “First thing first. We need to start an army. There's no time to waste. Don't you agree?”

  There were some soft whispers being exchanged behind us. A few of the peasants came out of their homes and began to surround us. “If you can bring us food, we will fight for you,” one yelled. “We are hungry.”

  Another peasant seemed irritated. “I'm not dying for a loaf of bread. We need gold. If you want us to fight, then bring us some gold.”

  A few more peasants ran out of their homes. They seemed to be upset. “Yea,” one yelled. “I ate some dirt yesterday. I'm so hungry I'll eat anything.”

  He ate some dirt? Wow, these were sad little men. Much more sad than I had first realized. “Settle down,” I said with both arms into the air.

  The peasants looked sad and hopeless. How could they live such a crappy life? Why didn't they leave? I guess they couldn't because they were programmed to be here. It just seemed like such a pathetic life they were forced to live in. But, I could fix it. I could fix a lot of things. I just needed to earn some gold and start my army. Yes, that was it! I would start my army and find Todd's soul. I stood tall and held my head high. “We will bring you gold,” I said with a deep voice. “Then, we will grow into the most powerful army this game has ever seen.”

  The peasants began to cheer. One of them got so excited that it appeared he was almost going into a seizure. He was way too excited for his own good. “Settle down over there,” I said with concern in my voice.

  I raised both arms back into the air. This was it. It was time for me to become the leader I was meant to be. “We will be back soon. First, we must earn some gold. But, don't let hopelessness take over your heart. For I am the hope you have been looking for. I have arrived.”

  The NPCS began to cheer and scream random crap. It seemed to be a very emotional time for the poor people. “That was a pretty good speech,” Tommy said. “Where did you get it from?”

  “My mind. It just came to me,” I replied while leaving the village.

  Tommy followed behind me. “Well actually, it wasn't that good of a speech,” he replied with a chuckle. “But I guess those dumb NPCS are easy to excite aren't they?”

  “They aren't that dumb actually. In fact, they seem really smart.”

  I secretly knew that my speech wasn't that good. I was mostly just having fun during the moment. But, it came from my heart, and from the heat of the moment. It was something I needed to practice though. My footsteps grew quicker as we climbed a hill. I kept a close eye on my stamina bar while Tommy huffed and puffed behind me. “They should give you an air machine in this game,” he said with a stutter.

  “You gotta pace yourself. Set it to where your stamina and health are displayed at the bottom of your view. That way you can keep a close eye on your stamina.”

  Tommy came to a stop and did what I told him to do. Then, I realized I forgot to open my inventory. I had leveled up and not even distributed my points yet. How could I have been such a fool? I stopped and got straight to business. How did I want to use my experience points? I wanted to be stronger for sure. If I had trouble killing that little rat, I must have been pretty weak. But, I also wanted to be quicker. I saw how quick Todd was and it seemed really cool. After playing around with my points a bit, I finally made my choice.

  Note To User: You Have 4 Points to Distribute. Use your points wisely.

  Walker Williamson – Level 2

  Human Male - Warrior

  Statistics:

  HP: 12/12

  Stamina: 10

  Mana: 10

  Attributes:

  Strength: 3 (+2 added!)

  Persuasion: 2

  Intelligence: 1

  Willpower: 1

  Sneak: 2 (+1 added!)

  Agility: 2 (+1 added!)

  Skills:

  None yet acquired

  Perks:

  None yet acquired

  Abilities:

  None yet acquired

  The menu disappeared. I had upgraded my agility, strength and sneak. My overall health had increased to 12? Nice, I guess you got 2 extra health points every time you leveled up. But, how was my health at 12/12 when I had been bitten by the rat? “I'm fully healed now. Does leveling up heal you?”

  “Probably. I've seen games do that before,” Tommy replied.

  I jumped back from side to side. Wow, I did feel a little more light. Agility was something I needed for sure. “Why are you dancing?” Tommy asked.

  “I'm not dancing. I'm just testing my upgraded agility. Do I look quicker to you?”

  “Maybe a little. You still look pretty slow though.”

  I held my fist into the air. How much stronger was I? I looked at Tommy. “Can I hit you? I wanna test my new strength.”

  Tommy looked offended. “I'm not your punching bag. I don't want you to hit me.”

  “I was kidding,” I replied with a laugh. “You can relax now.”

  Tommy walked ahead of me. “Lets find a quest.”

  “That's what we are doing. Isn't there like a quest list or something?”

  I opened my inventory and menus but didn't see any sort of quest locating system. That was odd. How were we to find quest? I guess we just had to ask around? We continued walking for many minutes. “Wait,” I said. “Look over there.”

  Not far away, was a large medieval looking city with characters running all over the place. “This must be where everyone hangs out at.”

  I began to run and Tommy followed behind me. My legs kicked faster and faster while I kept an eye on my stamina bar. After many stop and go sessions, we had arrived at the village. It was beautiful. Hundreds of players ran around and wore all sorts of different armor types. Many had swords, bows and other weapons. “Surely we can find a quest here,” I said.

  “And something to eat,” Tommy replied.

  A thin cobblestone path led us into the village. The buildings had green tile roofs and were made with beautiful beige cobblestone. Conversations filled the air while characters were coming in and out of the different shops. Suddenly, a small troll almost ran into me. “Hey there,” he yelled while zooming past me.

  After that, an orc nearly slammed into me. “Get the fuck out of my way,” he screamed while riding a white wolf.

  Wow, there were so many different characters and pets. It was so awesome. Suddenly, a small elf jumped in front of me. “I can dance,” he yelled. “If you watch me, you must pay me.”

  His name tag popped up over his head:

  Samson The Elf – Level 14

  Elf

  The elf crossed his legs and did a goofy little dance. He had big ears and a small triangle shaped head. To be honest, he looked like a creepy little bat. He jumped up and do
wn and clapped his hands. Truthfully, his dance sucked. “You saw the dance,” he yelled. “Now pay the starving artist.”

  “For what?” I asked.

  “For my art. That was a work of art you just witnessed.”

  “No it wasn't,” Tommy replied. “I actually am trying to forget what I just saw.”

  The elf became irritated. “Hey. You two are cheats! I work as an artist for a living. That's my job here.”

  “We are new,” I replied. “We just want to find a quest.”

  The elf looked all directions. “A quest? You are seeking a quest?”

  “Yea. How do we find them?”

  His pointy little finger signaled me closer. “If it's gold your after, I can help you.”

  “How so? You were just asking us for gold, now you are going to give us some?”

  “Just let me explain,” he replied. “Come to my home. It's too loud out here.”

  We followed the elf to one of the smallest homes in the village. “This is it,” he said. “Nice isn't it?”

  I took a close look at the door. There were splinters peeling off it. When he opened it, there was a squeal as some wood crumbled away. Then, there was a loud pop as the elf slammed the door behind us. I quickly realized why the door looked the way it did. I looked around the home while the elf was busy lighting a candle. Slowly, the light grew inside of the home until I could see everything with clarity. There were paintings everywhere hanging on the wall. But the odd thing was, it was only paintings of himself.

  My head spun around and saw another painting of him. I looked the other direction and there it was. Another painting of his creepy little face. After that, the next painting I saw was even more bizarre. It was a painting of him eating a banana. Wait. Who has a painting of himself eating a banana? And why would you hang it up in your own home? I continued to scan the area and saw even more paintings of him. They were everywhere! He must have had over two dozen paintings of himself. “This is a lovely collection you have here,” I said with an awkward tone.

  “Do you just sit around all day and paint pictures of yourself?” Tommy asked.

  “Every piece is original,” the elf replied while pointing at the painting above his bed.

  Changing the subject, I tried to get back to business. “So what about this gold?”

  The elf raised his voice. “I am about to tell you about it. But first, I wanted to tell you I have a special going on for today only. Three paintings for the price of one. The offer won't last long. That I can ensure you.”

  “Well,” Tommy mumbled. “How much is the one of you blowing bubbles under a giant mushroom? I kinda like that one in a weird sort of way.”

  “What?” I asked with surprise. “Let's get back to the gold. That's what is important here.”

  The elf rushed over to the painting and removed it from the wall. “Here,” he yelled with a panic. “Put it in your arms,” he said while pushing it towards Tommy.

  Tommy held the painting and looked at it. “Where can I find a bubble blowing device?” he asked with a slow tone.

  “That will be four gold coins,” the elf demanded.

  “Four gold? But I don't have any gold.”

  The elves squinty little eyes became larger. “How dare you waste the time of an artist. Do you know how much people pay for my time?”

  Tommy tried to hold back a smile but he couldn't. The elf wasn't smiling though. In fact, he was getting quite upset. Was he really this delusional? I guess he was. Before Tommy could say something else that might anger the elf, I interrupted him. “Your art is stunning,” I said. “But the truth is, we cannot afford it. Your art is only for the rich. We cannot afford such talent.”

  A bashful look came to his face. “Not everyone can afford the finer things in life,” he said with nervous hands. “After you earn your gold, you can come back and purchase these. The deal will still be good. I promise.”

  Come back and waste my gold on these hideous paintings of his deformed little face? I think not. But, I wouldn't let the elf know that. “It will give me something to look forward to. Extra motivation to get that gold. Thank you for this offer.”

  The elf lowered his head as I asked about the quest. “So what are the details on this quest?”

  The elf tucked his hands behind his back. “This situation is very personal to me. I was betrayed and I must have my revenge.”

  “Betrayed by who?”

  “My cousin,” he replied. “My cousin in the outside world.”

  “What did he do to you?” Tommy asked.

  “Take a seat at the table. This is going to take a moment to explain.”

  In the center of the room, was a small yellow table. On top of the table, was a bowl of odd looking biscuits. I sat down and Tommy did the same. “Can I have a muffin?” Tommy asked. “Please, I am so hungry. You have no idea how hungry I am.”

  The elf looked like he didn't want to share. I could see it in his greedy little eyes. “Those are my homemade biscuits. It's the last of my batch,” he said with a hiss. “So just take one.”

  Tommy grabbed a biscuit and took a big bite. There was a pop. “What the crap? This thing is rock hard.”

  Then, Tommy felt his front tooth. “I think part of my tooth fell out. Does it look normal to you?”

  Tommy opened his mouth real wide as I tried to examine it. He was right. There was a little piece missing on his front right tooth. It wasn't anything major, but it was chipped for sure. “You might need to see a dentist,” I said.

  “A dentist? But, I don't like those guys. Does it make me ugly though? I might wanna meet some girls here.”

  The elf slammed both hands on to the table. “You should have nibbled on it,” he said with a roar. “Those biscuits are meant to nibble on. I made them that way for the sole purpose of not eating too much. It's a survival tactic I came up with.”

  “You make rock hard biscuits to survive? That doesn't seem like a good life,” Tommy replied.

  “I'm sure your tooth will be fine,” I replied with quick words. “Please, let's get this quest of yours started. Okay?”

  Tommy nibbled on the biscuit while desperately trying to eat some more. I was hungry, but not hungry enough to try one of his shitty biscuits. Tommy finished up his hard biscuit while the elf remained quiet. The elf seemed to get some sort of weird pleasure in not telling us what we needed to do. To be honest, it was starting to piss me off. If he had a job for us, he needed to tell us what it was. It was time to throw him a curve ball. “Forget it,” I said while standing up.

  “What? What do you mean?” the elf asked.

  “We are leaving. Tell us what to do, or we will leave.”

  “Fine. My cousin is not far from here. After he stole my gold, he moved to a small cave.”

  “Why would he move to a cave?”

  “He thinks nobody will bother him there. The cave is small and has no valuables. For that reason, nobody explores it anymore. It's just empty space in the game.”

  “How much will this little quest of yours pay?”

  “Seven gold coins. Two for you, two for your friend and three for me.”

  “Why three for you?”

  “That's the deal. You didn't pay for my dance when you should have. That's why I get the extra gold coin.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Fine. How do we get there?”

  “I will send you a friends request,” he replied.

  Within seconds, a message popped up in front of me:

  Friends Request

  Samson The Elf wants to add you as a friend. Accept? Yes/No?

  I quickly accepted his request. “Okay, I accepted it. Now what?”

  A strange look came to the elf's face. “I've created a detailed map. That way I would never forget where he lives. I've waited a long time to get my gold back from him.”

  “Why didn't you just get it back yourself?” Tommy asked.

  “He knows what I look like. It would be stupid to try and get it myself. This is
an outside job.”

  “Do you have any weapons for us?” I asked.

  The elf laughed. “Your weapons wouldn't do you any good. This is a stealth mission. Only the most sneaky will survive.”

  “Our sneak skill is the lowest possible level,” Tommy replied.

  “That doesn't worry me. I have the information you need. See, there is a brief window of opportunity. You would never know this without me of course. See? See how clever I am?”

  “And this window of opportunity would be?”

  A slow growing smile came to the elf's face. “Very shortly. See, he can't resist a few drinks. He's gotta get a buzz to numb his depression. He suffers from depression. It's part of the reason he lives in the cave.”