NOVEL FROG 4 - Edge of the Deck
For all the beauty in the world, there was the constant presence of conflict. Few places were truly free of danger - and the System expected you to rise up and meet the challenge. Kill and grow, lest you become a stepping stone for those more ambitious and less scrupulous than yourself. And what was the reward for being at the top of the ladder, for surviving and slaying your way across the world to reach the highest apex? I did not know, even at this stage. Any glance of the truth I hoped to steal was buried amongst those who fell before reaching the pinnacle.
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I tilted my head, trying to absorb the information. It sunk into the back of my mind like a thick paste. All the words made sense, but the context was still beyond me. It might as well have been a recipe for lasagne, for as clear as it was. Slowly, I massaged my tender head. I barely had the time to play video games in my actual life, I'm not sure why my mania had defaulted to this manner of set up.
But, the show must go on... It was time to throw caution to the wind - and apparently some cards. The
Distaste painting my impressionable mood, I grasped the top hat in my hand. My face wrinkled up, my features recoiling from the look. Instead of donning it myself, I gifted it to the one that nearly put me back in the ground - the bloodied rock. Perhaps it was the lingering concussion, but I thought it suited him.
Some life began to filter into my limbs in earnest. I stepped back to what I considered about twelve feet away from the dapper stone. With my deck in my left hand, I furrowed my brow.
For some reason, I had expected it to be a bit more effortless. A natural extension of my physical form. Where I dredged those aspirations from, I wasn’t sure, but felt confident enough to drag the lid back over that dirtied pool. Instead, I sighed and put my right index finger atop the magic deck.
I felt it before I saw it - the slight thrum of energy. The smallest of vibrations of the air, or rather, something within the air. White and purple light curved into existence to form a flat rectangle between my index and middle finger. It felt… not exactly tangible, but it had a presence.
I flicked my fingers forward, and it left my hand. The skill itself made manifest. It shot across the short gap and embedded into the hat, jostling it backward and leaving a narrow slice in the fabric with a lingering faint blur of purple. The breeze rustled through the clearing as I stood and stared at what I had done, the magical card fading from existence after a handful of seconds.
My first trick in this new world.
It didn’t necessarily seem like something I could kill a man with, unless he were to walk around carelessly flaunting an exposed neck. But then again, I wasn’t sure why I expected to have to murder when I was more of a showman. Perhaps I needed more INT - assuming it stood for Intelligence.
Clearly I didn’t have enough, if I needed to assume that much.
Despite myself, a wry grin started to form across my face. Magic. Some manner of actual magic - this would work wonders for my performance. My eyes scanned the ground to see if the book had made the jouney alongside me, but it seemed I made the trip solo. I wasn’t sure how my skills of throwing cards would impress those local to this world, but the burgeoning weight of potential fame - of becoming this world’s greatest showman - had started to sink into me.
Without wanting to get too far ahead of myself, I opened up the next menu to start me on my path to adoration and riches - Quests.
[Available Quests: 1]
[Welcome to Othea!] [Travel North to Greenrest, defeating 10 Slimes along the way.]
[Progress: 0/10 Slimes. Location not reached.]
Direction gave purpose, even if it didn’t really clarify much. Perhaps answers lay at… Greenrest. Already the System expected violence of me, as if there were no choice in the matter. Become a killer or don’t progress. I was slightly concerned that my reaction hadn't been obstinate panic at the suggestion.
I smiled and brushed my hair back, flakes of dark burgundy falling from my scabbed injury. Lucky for the System, I had been a killer - I could at least remember that much. Although, I stopped to run my brain past that last thought. I had been a magician, not a killer, surely? Untoward memories rose and faded just as quick. Eyes amongst the shadows. Any true answer was fogged amongst mist in places my recovering mind couldn’t reach. Strange.
“Keep the hat, rock. You earned it.” I brushed down my suit once more, somewhat put off to hear my voice externally for the first time here. It was my voice, however. The System on my wrist had a small arrow illuminated, pointing in the direction I need to travel. On second thoughts, I took the hat - it was part of the whole outfit, after all.
North. To exploration, conflict, and hopefully, answers.
I stopped after two steps, as a warmth began to radiate through the pack of cards. It was calling to me, in a manner of speaking. The familiarity it bore to something from my past felt even more real, as if a reassuring voice was whispering in my ear. No words sunk into my subconscious, but the message was clear. Grow stronger.
“I’m not crazy.” I said this aloud as there was currently nobody else to reassure me. My internal voice would take an idea and run with it faster than I could catch them. But speaking my voice into the world made it more real, as if my life was worthy of dictation.
As my feet made headway through the woods under sunlight broken by the canopy above, I worked my jaw in contemplation. Puzzle pieces aligned, but I couldn’t quite work out what picture I was supposed to be making. Part of me was familiar with the occult, the bizarre, and the untoward. The other part of me was as well - but in ways that weren’t so flashy and painted by the recognition of fame. Where this world fell on that shifting scale, I was yet to fully absorb, but I was gaining a tentative grasp.
I felt like I had a rough enough understanding of the process. Do tasks to gain power and unlock better abilities to repeat the process. It seemed more like a hamster wheel than any real progress, but perhaps there was a path I could carve for myself. Gaining the power to escape seemed like an odd phrase - sure I had come here from somewhere else… but would it be so simple to get back? Sparks of memories faded just as soon as they bloomed.
If anything, there was just a growing weight within me, knowing something terrible was going to happen. Great. If there was one sure bet to kill my mood, it would have to be bad omens. Both the System and I wanted to gain more power - but I didn’t have the depth of knowledge to understand what that encompassed - would I just be throwing cards harder? Or were there more tricks up my sleeve that I required permission to use? If there was one thing the book left behind had taught me, it was that I wouldn't want to be someone unlucky enough to have destiny waying down on my existence.
I stepped forth, northwards, as the System commanded it. My body had gotten used to the prospect of living and being usable, which made the stroll through the forest entirely more pleasant. If it weren’t for the odd feeling of not understanding my past, and the constant reminder that I hadn’t murdered ten souls yet, this would be a small slice of bliss compared to… whatever it was that I had come from. Some manner of Hell.
The more I looked around and the further I traveled, it seemed almost too picturesque. As though everything had been created from the same handful of near-immaculate set pieces. I supposed that wasn’t too out of the realm of possibility, especially as-
My feet rooted in place at the sound of something nearby. The shuffling of bushes just ahead, to my right. I placed a tree between myself and the offending movement, fingertips atop my magic deck.
A spherical object leaped wetly from amongst the foliage to land in an open space as if deliberately revealing itself to me. Despite its pink hue, it was slightly transparent, with two dark pits of eyes above an all-too-cute mouth. The System sought to hold my hand further, and a blue message flickered over the creature.
[New Monster: Slime <1>]
I daren’t breathe just in case I scared away the Monster. It hadn't seemed to notice me so far. The simple thing content to squish around and watch the leaves of the surrounding trees wave about in the light breeze. I almost felt bad about the looming prospect of murdering the poor thing in cold blood. Almost.
With a wide step out from my hiding place, a card of purple energy formed between my fingers and I threw it out at the surprised foe. Within a second, it struck him directly in what I would call the forehead. The rounded part over its eyes... which was the rest of it, really.
Briefly, it gave me a sad look as if I had labored upon it the worst kind of betrayal, despite not knowing it previously - and then it popped. A small spattering of pink slime dotted the area as its remains sunk into a thick gel-like puddle on the ground.
“That was… underwhelming.” I tilted my head, perhaps expecting a slight fanfare from the System for taking the first step on the route to being a mass murderer. Perhaps I shouldn’t wish for greater hardship.
[Progress: 1/10 Slimes. Location not reached.]
The quest had updated, and I was one step closer to an unknown reward and perhaps some amount of exposition. I was being a bit presumptuous to assume I could bring any manner of further hardship to my journey that destiny hadn’t already begun to put in motion. Often, once you started coming into some fortunate luck, the deck became further stacked against you until karma could deal you a terrible hand with a knowing smirk across its face.
“What now, then? Continue onwards to the meeting point?” I worked my jaw again in having to talk aloud to myself, juggling with my sanity. My eyes fell down to the remains of my first victim.
Of course. It wasn’t enough to take a life when you could also rifle the pockets of the deceased for anything of value. Although, whatever manner of valuables a living ball of slime might hold was as clear to me as to if they even had a soul to begin with. Everything in stride, I reminded myself.
As I crouched down beside the damp patch of mud and grass, I was somewhat surprised, but entirely whelmed to find that instead of having to delve my fingers into the essence of the Monster, a blue box had appeared to ask if I did indeed want to loot the body. My finger hovered in the air and somehow selected the confirmation of my intent.
[1 Gold]
[Slime Gel (1)]
“I suppose I could take it all. The Slime doesn’t need it anymore.” Text notifications filtered down through the side of my vision to inform that the ill-gotten proceeds were deposited in my Inventory.
Part of me assumed I would be getting some form of experience for my part in ending the near defenseless Monster’s life. Nothing had overtly pressed itself into my tiring eyes, but it was a decent assumption if I were to level. I seemed to have a firm grasp on things, which was more worrying than anything - not because I would prefer to be floundering in the new world, but because it only meant that harsher encounters would surely be leveled my way if I was doing well.
With a shrug, I returned to the task at hand - moving north towards the location my quest required of me. It was not long before I came across a second, then third, Slime and each one equally fell from a single thrown card. The fourth Slime I completely missed, and I almost died - of embarrassment - as the hapless creature just beamed up at me as if it wanted to be adopted. Cuteness didn’t seem to be an evolutionary trait that was working out well for it today.
By the sixth Slime, I stopped to stretch out my fingers. It would have been nice of the System to allow me to function with the granted skills without getting cramps or throwing out my elbow - but perhaps these were just growing pains. I bent over, with a sigh, to loot this felled foe.
[Gold 2]
[Slime Gel (1)]
[Unidentified Gloves]
“That’s something new,” I tilted my head.
Perhaps it was about time I investigated one of my other menus. Inventory popped up to show a grid of squares - two of which were filled. A stack of six pieces of slime, and the newly acquired gloves. Gold seemed to just add to a counter - of which I now was the proud owner of ten pieces. How unusual to have things stored in this intangible space - although perhaps it was the same kind of magic flowing through the deck of cards?
[Identify?]
Without the necessary skill to do this on the regular, the System gave me a reminder that I could only Identify Uncommon items at my level or below. The green box around the gloves apparently indicating the rarity. A short bar of arbitrary time sped across my vision and the task was complete - the briefest of jingles accompanying the successful process.
[Basic Gloves] [+1 DEX]
Basic seemed a bit mean. Certainly, as I withdrew them from the two-dimensional space to pull onto my hands, they weren’t ornate or expertly made… but they were functional and almost fit with my outfit. Dexterity would help with
“Getting the hang of this now, soon I’ll be-“
I stopped mid-sentence as the sound of snapping twigs caught my attention. Coming from my left now, it was something bigger and heavier than a Slime.
Multiple footsteps and murmured voices.
My right eye twitched as I placed my fingers atop the card deck. Surely they wouldn’t be foes? Most likely other… Players? The word felt odd even though that was what the System had called me. My heartbeat started to rise and thrum in my ears as the footfalls grew closer. Something potentially worse than adoring fans.
Muscles tensing, I stepped forward as two silhouettes came into view.