Elemental Accords 1-4

Good Morning! With Book 3 of Revenge over, its time to switch to Elemental Accords for Tuesday, Thursday for a bit. 

Chapter 4

I replaced the door after watching Knight charge into the sun. Next, I placed a few shelves in front of it for added defense. With that done, I took in the shop. It resembled Rai’s, but I guess that is to be expected given how these shops worked.

“Hello! Anyone in here!?” I shouted just loud enough to go through the building. Like with Rai’s shop, I didn’t hear anything, so I moved through the building checking all the rooms. This shop was solely a business, with the back rooms being offices. I blocked the backdoor while I was inspecting the building then headed back to Rai.

“No one?”

“Yep. Just us. Let’s stay here for the night.”

“That’s probably wise. Monsters in games usually get stronger at night.”

I nodded in agreement. “I don’t know much about that, but the goblins were having trouble seeing in the light. I studied it in biology, they are clearly nocturnal creatures.” I moved over to the jewelry case and swung my fist. I groaned when I barely made a crack. Looks like this shop had a bit more money to invest in their security.

I hopped up onto the case and drew my sword. I stabbed it into the glass until it finally broke enough for me to pry it off the metal parts of the case. From there I checked the items until I had a pile roughly the same size as the one back in Rai’s shop.

“That is a nice ability. Able to get strong from gathering gold.”

“Yes, until it makes me a target to be hunted. Once enough people know I’m a walking gold mine they will do whatever it takes to lock me up and control me.” I knew how people thought. Even if it takes a few months, once everything settles to a point that society reemerges, gold will still be in the rare metal category. There was also the enticing greed skill that I had been ignoring until now. I would need to find a counter skill or end up a nomad for the rest of my life.

“I suppose that is true,” Rai said looking down at her feet in embarrassment.

“I’ll have Karate master Rai Mami to protect me from that, won’t I?” I asked with a grin.

“Yes! Count on me!”

We both laughed. We had only known each other for a few hours. Neither of us truly knew what the other was like. Scary how fast the suspension bridge effect kicks in. With the gold collected, I grabbed another bag and put the rest of the jewelry in it. It might not be real gold, but I could use it for trading later with other survivors and groups.

“I’m hungry,” I mumbled when my stomach growled. Like an idiot, I hadn’t grabbed any food from Rai’s shop. My thought and sight only being on the gold.

“I packed some food. We had a few boxes of energy bars and whatnot.” She tossed me a bar and I nodded my thanks.

“See. I’m already glad I brought you with me.”

~~~

It felt like night crept in faster than normal as we watched the sunset through the window. The city still sounded like it was in chaos, but the amount gunfire had gone down considerably. From the looks of the soldiers’ corpses we saw either guns didn’t work properly, or something that was stronger was actively hunting them down. Just from the wounds, I felt it was something other than the goblins that had killed them.

After Rai and I looted the shop for anything useful, mostly the weapons and cloths which I loaded into my Itembox. We headed deeper into the shop to the employee lounge. There was a sofa that was large enough for one of us to sleep on. “Go ahead. I’ll take first watch. You’re barely hanging on as it is.”

“But you’ve worked harder than me. If anyone’s tired its you!” Rai stated, shaking her head.

“Sure, I’m tired, but I won’t be able to sleep if I’m worried you’re going to pass out on me. Please just get some rest. I will wake you later and have you take watch.” I decided to be a bit more forceful since she was very courteous and stubborn at the same time. A dangerous combination in a situation like this.

She pouted in a cute way, but finally nodded. I handed her one of the blankets from my Itembox. It was a nice item likely from Iran or some other middle eastern country. After she laid down, like I expected she clocked out in a matter of minutes.

I was thankfully I got the Gold is Health skill. It helped reduce my fatigue from what I could tell. I didn’t care to test it, but I could handle a few hours of night watch. Glancing at my injures, I was relieved that they were mostly healed already.

I sat in the chair at the table and laid my sword down while leaning my spear against the wall. The light of a lantern the only illumination in the room. The power had cut out just as the sunset. I was keeping my weapons out of the Itembox for now until I got a bit better using both it and them. I focused on myself and my character sheet as Rai called it, popped up.

--

Name: Aurum Lockfeather

Age: 25

Level: 4

Ability:

Midas Touch – Able to turn objects touched into solid gold. Currently can be used three times a day. Object size is limited.

Gold is Power (Lv.2) – The more gold you possess, the stronger you become.

Gold is Steel – Gold in your hands has the strength of Steel.

Gold is Health (Lv.2) – When you possess gold, your body will heal. With enough gold, even limbs can be regrown.

Gold is Death – When your gold touches an enemy, expend mana to deal increased damage. Amount of mana spent = how much damage you deal.

Encroaching Greed – The longer you stay in a place the more likely other people are going to be affected by an overwhelming greed.

ItemBox (Lv.1)(Legendary) – Able to storage items in a sub-dimension. Counts as touching and does not reduce weight. Skills that affect items can still reach your item box. Grows the more it is used.

Knight Summoning (Lv.2) – Summon a living armor to fight alongside of you. Duration: 2-hour. Cooldown: 1-hour.

Beginner Staff Technique – The teachings of the staff will be with you.

Beginner Sword Technique – The teachings of the sword will be with you.

Beginner Bow Technique – The teachings of the bow will be with you.

Beginner Spear Technique – The teachings of the Spear will be with you.

--

There were some changes. I had gotten a level up screen the first time, but I guessed that wasn’t set in stone. Maybe it was a way to make sure people knew that rewards followed killing monsters. Either way, I doubted I would get an answer. It was only the first day in this changed world and I felt I had far too many skills already. Some of them had even increased in level, but I didn’t see any indication for when they would increase again.

“Champion, hmm?” I mumbled as I thought back to the moments before all this madness began. I was chosen by someone to be their champion. How did you champion someone if you don’t know their name? I put it out of my mind for the moment.

I grabbed my sword and spear then moved to a separate room, stopping a moment to resummon the Knight and send him out hunting. The separate room was a bit large as a sort of warehouse for the larger goods that went through the shop. I focused on the sword and found the new techniques were there after all. I must have not realized it while fighting on my way here.

I spent the next two hours going through the motions imprinted on my mind for the sword. Then did the same for the spear. I was dripping sweat, but I would rather know my weapon than meet an enemy fighting like a fool. It was around one in the morning when I finally had to stop, or my body might not be able to take it.

I found a towel and dried off as much as my sweat as possible as I moved to the employee lounge. Rai was still fast asleep which only hammered home how trying of a day she’d had. Otherwise, I was sure she’d be crying while thinking of her parents.

I reached out and shook her carefully, not wanting her to freak out. She jerked awake, whipping her head around. “Rai.” She focused on me.

“Aurum. I wish it had been a nightmare,” she suddenly said dropping her head into her hands.

“I know. Do you think you can keep watch?”

She took a deep breath then nodded. She stood up but lost her balance due to the heavy blanket. I caught her feeling a bit embarrassed since I probably smelt due to working out just now. Not to mention the sweat and blood from earlier today. “Aurum. Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?”

“I was practicing with my sword and spear just now.”

“Oh. Okay.” She pulled away and I noticed a redness to her cheeks. I raised my eyebrow. Someone might have a dirtier mind than I first thought. Or she just wasn’t used to men. Either way, I would need to be careful not to do anything stupid. She was quite cute after all, even if she could punch a goblin’s head off in two hits.

I laid down on the couch, my feet hanging off the edge. The couch had a nice smell from Rai’s body that would have been a bliss to sleep in, if it weren’t for the smell of ten years’ worth of smoking that mixed in. As I closed my eyes, I considered plans for what to do in the future. Sadly, I couldn’t come up with anything more concrete than gather more gold and skills.

~~~

“Aurum.” Rai’s voice pulled me from my slumber, though I was personally glad she did. I was tired of seeing goblins, and that was the main feature of my dream.

“What? What is it?” I asked whipping the sleep from my eyes. I had fell asleep almost instantly, but I barely felt rested.

“The sun is coming up.”

I sat up and looked at the small window at the top of the wall. The morning sunlight was bleeding into the room. If it wasn’t for the blood on Rai’s cloths, it would have felt like we’d just spent the night at a hotel.

“Early bird gets the worm,” I mumbled getting off the sofa and stretching. While I did so, I felt something was off. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it though.

“It’s so quiet.”

I snapped my fingers. “That’s it. I was wondering why it felt strange. I’ve never experienced the world this quiet before.”

“Do you… do you think everyone died?” Rai asked hugging herself.

“I don’t know. What I do know is that we survived yesterday and the night. I plan to keep it that way for a long time.”

“You’re right! Its over if we give up from the start.”

I gave her a smile before I moved to the front of the shop. Peeking out the window, I couldn’t suppress the groan that slipped out of me. Just on the street in front of the shop, there were at least fifty goblins sleeping on the ground. They were piled up like some sick crackhead family.

“It might be hard to leave,” I whispered waving Rai over to take a look. She stared in horror for as long as I did.

“Wait. I don’t think their breathing.” I looked back outside again. There were cars and trucks in the way, so I hadn’t been able to take a good look. I smacked my forehead then pulled some binoculars from my Itembox that I’d found in the store. Zooming in on the pile, I found that Rai was correct. It was hard to see from the window, but all the goblins in the pile appeared to have been stabbed.

“Maybe the monsters are fighting amongst themselves, isn’t it, is it?” I ventured but we didn’t see any other bodies mixed in with the goblins.

“Whatever the case, we can leave easier. Where is our next stop?” Rai asked shouldering her bag. We could have put it in my Itembox, but if we got separated, she would be without supplies so it was better if she kept a bare minimum on her person.

“Three streets down. It’s a gold buying place so I’m hoping for a good turnout.”

“We should hit a big bank. Those deposit boxes are probably loaded.”

I smacked my head again. “Good idea. I was aiming too low. We need to hit a central bank then. Get a couple tons of the stuff.”

“You’re already so strong with a few dozen kilograms. I can’t imagine how strong you’d be with a ton.”

We laughed as we moved the shelves out of the way. With the sun coming up, I hoped that some of the monsters would hopefully go to sleep soon. It would be a full day in about three hours since they appeared. Surely, they could get tired as well.

We crept outside and observed the road. Since I had two hours per use now, I decided to summon Knight. I needed to use him to increase the level of the skill it seemed. The three of us made our way done the road keeping an eye our for both survivors and monsters. I had the bow at the ready.

We came to the first turn on the way to the next store. I held up my hand to check like normal. I was not prepared for what I saw. A section of the city was gone. A perfect sphere had been carved into the ground as well as the buildings that were still standing. I couldn’t imagine what couldn’t have caused such prefect destruction.

There were no monsters, so I waved the two forward. We quickly moved down the center of the street. The alleys served as monster spawn points, was Rai’s theory. After she explained what she meant, I thought she might be onto something. The monsters had seemed to appear from the alleys so far, which leant was some credit to her idea.

There was nothing explaining the cause of the crater. Writing it off as a monster, we made our way down the street. As we got closer, I realized there was going to be a limit to how much one person could do. It might be wise to gather like-minded people together to increase our chances of survival. Rai had already saved me once.

The next street wasn’t as quiet. Goblins were setting up some sort of nest. It was a gruesome and ugly thing, being made from human skeletons. I would have liked to avoid it, but the street the shop was on was directly behind the nest. We might have been able to go around before, but a tall building had collapsed and sealed the other road leading to it.

“I’m not sure if its worth it,” I said honestly.

“I think we should try. If we encounter a boss like yesterday, we have a chance of some good loot.” There was a strange passion in her eyes. Was this the so-called gamer spirit?

“We do have Knight for almost an hour and a half. I suppose we have a decent chance of succeeding,” I said after a minute of thinking the situation over. “Very well. Let’s attempt it. If we can’t win, there is no shame in running away.”