Immersion Online: The Noob: A LitRPG Novel Read online

  100%

  Damage Bar

  100%

  Damage Points

  Damage Point Allocation

  Bonus

  Total

  Subtotal

  Level 1

  20

  20

  20

  Starting fighter class bonus

  25

  25

  45

  Physical Strength 10

  2

  2

  47

  Physical Fortitude 7

  1

  1

  48

  Attributes

  Attribute

  Natural

  Adjusted

  Total

  Physical Strength:

  10

  10

  Physical Fortitude:

  7

  7

  Hand-Eye Coordination:

  6

  7

  Nimbleness:

  5

  5

  Mental Acuity:

  3

  3

  Mental Fortitude:

  3

  3

  Providence

  3

  3

  Allure.

  3

  3

  40

  40

  Weapon / Defense Skills

  Skill

  Level

  Percent towards new level

  Blunt weapons (Mace)

  1

  1%

  Dagger

  1

  1%

  Crossbow

  1

  1%

  Brawl

  1

  1%

  Shield / Bracer

  1

  1%

  Non-Weapon Skills

  Skill

  Level

  Percent towards new level

  Examine details

  1

  1%

  Perks

  Perks:

  True Sight

  Behind the Veil

  Liar! Liar!

  Glean Truth

  Intimidation

  Blunt Force Trauma

  I spent several minutes reviewing it and said that I was satisfied.

  She asked, “Now that your character is created, would you like to begin play at this time or wait?” Angelica was silent as she awaited my response. I spent a moment gathering my thoughts and asked, “Any advice for a new character?”

  “Stay alive,” she responded, amusement in her voice. I liked the very simple answer and found myself chuckling. Well they were paying me, and paying me quite a bit of crypto-coin, so I told her, “Let’s do this! Angelica, log me on.”

  Chapter 4: Out Of The Frying Pan; Whacked Over The Head With A Frying Pan

  The peace of the dome faded and the next moment my eyes burned from thick grey smoke that billowed from a log building about ten feet away that was consumed in fire. A man shrieked in pain and a beastly voice growled a challenge. A short man, his face streaming with blood, a rusty sword gripped in his hand, barreled past me. Behind ran a monster right out of a cosplay party: built like a tank, over six feet tall, green hue to his face, tusks protruding from the bottom of his mouth up towards his piggish nose. He carried a large club with rusty nails jutting out of the fat end. He hurtled towards me like an angry bull. I lifted my arm in self-defense. I held a large metal mace in my hand – raising it just in time, it stopped most of the blow of the large club from bashing my skull in. My arm stung from the force of that strike, and I staggered backwards. A notification ran past my eyes, but I missed what it said. That blow, even though blunted, hurt like all Hell. Maybe I should I have removed all pain from the game. However, I don’t think I would be able to get my adrenaline going without some pain and verisimilitude.

  I backed away as the orc (as I was soon to discover the creature was called) continued to rain blow after blow at me. All I could manage to do was get the mace up to block. The orc was strong but he wasn’t necessarily adept with the club and I was able to block the attacks. Then my luck ran out. I stepped on a rock, lost my footing, and stumbled to the compact earth. I hit the ground hard, my back exploding in pain. Instinctually, I kicked out with my foot and heard a loud crunch as the orc’s kneecap appeared to break. A notification about inflicted damage flashed in front of my eyes but I ignored it. The pain left my body quickly and I deftly jumped to my feet. This is certainly something my fifty-three year old self couldn’t do. This super body, however, had no problem doing so. I hadn’t even moved this way when I was twenty and in the peak of physical conditioning. The busted kneecap didn’t stop the creature though. It just seemed to get more pissed off.

  "You may want to open your shield," Angelica said in my head. I was a little startled at first with the crystal-clear voice in my mind.

  "And how do I do that?" I screamed, backing away from another swipe of that long club. The busted knee of the orc had caused twenty DPs (Damage Points). I could see his damage bar hovering over its head. I knew there was a way to minimize that feature but didn't think it wise to do so just now.

  "The bracer on your left arm will turn into a shield. Just think about your bracer and it will flare into a shield and vice versa."

  The orc was frothing at the mouth. I could tell it was getting winded but so was I. My stamina creeped down to fifty percent, and I knew I couldn’t win a battle of attrition. My health was also down to seventy five percent - and that had been caused by the pounding my arm was taking from continually blocking that large club. I didn’t even want to imagine the pain if that studded club struck me.

  It was time to go on the offensive. So I took a deep breath and swung a combination of blows with the mace (or at least what I thought was a combination of blows since I really had no training with a mace whatsoever). There must have been a little fury in the blows because the orc had difficulty blocking all of them. One glanced off his arm inflicting a few more damage points. However, my plan wasn’t to whittle his DPs away a few at time. I exposed my left side to him trying to lure him to attack. He fell for the trick and swung that large spiked club towards the arm with my bracer. I thought and shouted “Shield” and at the last minute a small wooden shield about the size of a garbage can lid with metal bands wrapped around it flared out from my left forearm. The shield absorbed the force of that powerful blow, knocking off a quarter of its durability and causing me a few more damage points.

  When the orc had attacked, it had left its whole side exposed and I hit him with all I had in his rib cage. I could hear and feel the impact. In blood red words “CRITICAL STRIKE” popped up above the orc’s head. The orc crumbled to the ground unconscious – hovering near death. A message read, “Grothar is unconscious. He will die in thirty minutes without ministrations.”

  I swiped it away and looked around trying to get my bearings. I stood in the center of what I could only describe as a small medieval village - not that I really knew what one looked like. Most of the small cottages and shops were made of wood with thatched roofs. Flames consumed several of them. Some townsfolk set up a bucket brigade, tossing water on the buildings before the entire village burned to the ground. While others seemed to be fighting the marauders.

  “Angelica!” I called out. “How do I pull out my crossbow?”

  "In your inventory just look at or tap the crossbow and it will appear in your hands, but your mace will be gone. You will learn at later levels how to switch between the two rapidly and fluidly.” Using a crossbow and attacking from a distance seemed like the best strategy for a noob like me. I had only engaged the orc because I was tossed into the battle upon my arrival.

  Suddenly the shield was retracted, and I held a clunky, heavy wooden crossbow. I heard – maybe a better description is felt – a terrible rumble. I don’t know why I did it, but I ran towards that sound. (Maybe it was the police officer in me. Running towards danger as opposed to away from it). As I rounded the corner, I beheld my first ever ogre. The mammoth
creature easily towered two feet above my six foot two inch frame and he was five hundred pounds of pure muscle. He carried an enormous battle-axe in his two massive hands. A dark-skinned woman deftly wielding a staff in her hands danced around the creature. She was nearly three feet shorter than the beast. I glanced quickly at her avatar and saw her basics: Cali, Human, Earth Warrior, Level 12. She would dodge in, strike the beast’s leg or kneecap, and dart away. Luckily, she was fast! One strike from that axe and she’d be sliced in two.

  I cocked back the bolt and took aim. I had never used a crossbow before but assumed it was pretty much aim and pull the bolt release. There was just a slight kickback and the bolt flew true, striking into the chest of the large creature. The strike didn’t knock the creature back but it did distract it momentarily and the woman took the opportunity to tap her staff into the ground and mumble a few words. Roots begin to push out of the compact ground like tendrils, twisting around the thick ankles and legs of the ogre. As soon as the bolt flew, another appeared in its place. It was one of the features of a Constable’s crossbow. I cranked it back, aimed and pulled the release. This time the bolt flew just wide of the flailing ogre. “Damn it!” I groaned.

  Even though its lower body was trapped, the ogre continued to swing the axe in large arcs; at the same time, it twisted its body and yanked its legs trying to dislodge from the encircling roots. The tendrils also prevented the woman from reaching the beast so she retreated outside of the range; in her hand, she now wielded a slingshot.

  “I could use some help!” she shouted to no one in particular. “Those roots will run out in ten more seconds.” She pulled back on the slingshot and a projectile flew from it, hitting the ogre square in the mouth. There was a small explosion upon impact and the beast roared in pain and anger. I broke out of my stupor and once again aimed the bolt. It struck the beast squarely in a piece of its chest plate, which unfortunately absorbed most of the damage. I checked out the beast’s stats in a glance: Magash Sidesplitter, Hill Ogre, Level 10, 370 / 400 DPs. That thing still had 370 damage points. Speak of being out gunned and outmanned. I was starting the game with only 48 damage points.

  Cali was able to get one more projectile off before the tendrils holding Magash vanished. He looked at me and then at her and took off like a great bear. For a hulking beast he was fast and Cali did the smartest thing she could – she got the hell out of Dodge. He chased her for a dozen feet before she vanished behind a cottage.

  The beast turned towards me!

  “Fuck!” I cursed.

  He was still twenty feet away and looking for something to chop up. And my first level noob seemed like the perfect target. A fleeting thought was running through my mind as the beast bore down on me, “Why was such a powerful creature in a noob area?” I had summoned my mace and shield again and waited. I knew I had no chance against the creature, but I wasn’t one to run from a fight no matter the odds.

  Then Magash was upon me with that great axe. He swung that axe in a great arc which I was somehow able to duck below. If that thing connected, I would certainly die in one blow. I wondered for a moment the pain it would cause and what virtual death was like. Maybe now would be a good time to shut off all battle pain sensors.

  “Pick on someone your own size!” I heard as a short, stocky, heavily armored, bearded humanoid barreled into the battle. He had his own battle-axe and swung it proficiently, slamming it into the thigh of ogre. It cut through the ogre’s armor and blood began to seep out. A bolt of lightning slammed into it from another direction. The ogre didn’t know which way to turn and that gave me my shot. Angelica had earlier said that I just needed to think about the perk or skill I want to use in order to activate them, so I thought Blunt Force Trauma and struck at the now exposed back of the ogre. Strength and power surged through my chest, up to my shoulders, and down into my arms and hands. The mace didn’t have the force that I had hoped for, as I was still just a low-level character. But a bee sting still hurts even if it causes no real damage. The ogre was an experienced fighter and began to swing the axe in long sweeping arcs to keep me and what I now knew was a dwarf from getting close. The ogre seemed to be speaking or mumbling, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. The dwarf screamed,” Run!” But it was too late. The battle-axe took on a momentary green hue and the ogre slammed it in the ground. A shock wave erupted, and I found myself airborne, slamming into the side of a wooden cottage, ten or so feet way. It wasn’t like in the old vids where the good guy gets tossed by the bad guy and slides down the wall unconscious. Agony coursed through my entire body. Bones crunched and broke. My left arm hung at my side fractured in several places. I swore I heard the sound of dice rolling and then notifications whirled past my eyes. “You have been critically injured,” Angelica stated without inflection. “It seems Providence has stepped in. You have just one damage point left. A child with a pointy stick could kill you now. I suggest you heal yourself and stay far from the battle.”

  “Great idea!” I shouted. My body racked in pain, like I had been in a horrific car accident with my car losing control, careening down a steep hill, flipping over a half dozen times before slamming into a tree to stop the motion. That might have been more pleasant than this.

  “Inside your inventory is a healing potion. Just think about it pulling from your inventory and it will appear in your hand; then just pull the stopper and drink.”

  I did as she informed and the small wooden vial appeared in my right hand. I paroxysm of pain ripped through me and I almost dropped the precious vial. “Damn it!” I cursed through clenched teeth, willing that precious elixir to my lips. The healing potion tasted a bit like pomegranate juice. In a few moments the pain subsided and my damage bar moved back towards full, the bones in my broken arm rapidly mending themselves. With the pain gone, I was able to assess the battle. It looked like the dwarf had been sent hurtling also, but he was much hardier and higher level and was soon rushing back into the fray. I quickly glanced at his avatar basics: Jarrell Ironbound, Dwarf, Level 9, Battle Tank. I had to find out what these different classes were and what they could do.

  I have to hand it to the little guy. He didn’t back away but was going toe to toe with the ogre. He was hurling all kinds of curses and invectives but the ogre didn’t seem to understand any of them. Then Jarrell’s luck ran out. He lifted his shield to again block that great axe, but the shield buckled and the axe cut through it. The shield was gone and so was half of his lower arm. He looked down at the stub for a moment and Magash finished him by turning the axe in an arc and striking it right into the dwarf’s skulls. Bone, blood and grey matter flew. There was a scream from behind me. The dwarf collapsed to the ground and a moment later vanished. I later learned that prior to level fifteen, Starborn will resurrect at the nearest respawn sight (unless they are locked to one they created) with all their equipment still intact and with minimal loss of experience points as a penalty. At higher level, the penalties for death were much greater. You could lose whole levels or valuable items.

  The game had put these minimal penalties in place just for characters like Jarrell who were still low level. He took on a far superior opponent by himself because he knew no real harm could come to him. There was no real downside other than being out of the battle until he could return from the respawn site. Up until level fifteen, respawn was automatic. As you gained levels, respawn could take minutes or hours. For levels above eighty, respawn was twenty-four hours. You could also lose immortal and divine items. High-level players played the game with caution just for this reason. This was part of the reason there were so few maxed out players. There was simply too much to lose at those higher levels.

  The ogre let out a roar and looked around. A lightning bolt struck into it knocking off a few more damage points. The ogre didn’t like this and turned towards the lithe woman who was hurling the spells. Next a stone hit the side of its head and exploded. A dozen arrows flying towards the ogre followed this. Cali had returned with a dozen villager
s all armed with bows. She cast another spell and the ogre was suddenly stuck in thick mud, reducing its speed and mobility. The ogre screamed in rage as the projectiles and occasional lighting spell struck. The ogre had some durable armor and some tough skin and none of the arrows did much damage. But even so, the ogre was now below 300 damage points. The villagers sent another volley of arrows loose. I also got one more shot from my crossbow before the mud suddenly evaporated. A hush fell over the battle – everyone waiting to see what the ogre would do now that it was free. It could definitely wipe out a number of villagers and destroy numerous homes and shops if it so chose. However, the ogre looked at the villagers and the three Starborn arrayed against it and decided it was time to retreat. Magash Sidesplitter turned around and at a slow trot headed out of the village.

  With this foe now gone, a host of new notifications popped up. Before I had time to catch my breath and review the notifications, the fiercest beast yet attacked me. She was five foot nothing, ninety pound, with unkempt grey hair, a hundred years of pent up rage and a black frying pan. She started to whack me with and scream, “You damn Starborn! Every time yee arrive yee bring death and war!” She connected on the side of my head with the pan, and I staggered sidewise. Pain coursed through me. I swear it was worse pain than when the ogre had sent me flying. Before she could hit me again, I grabbed for the pan. But it must have been magical because it whacked me across the knuckles, my damage bar flickering slightly.