Hunter's Bond, page 15
As the Pruvari explained, Arheis broke the crust of his own meat pie and slid the fork into the center. Steam rose from the opening he’d made, and a mix of meat, vegetables, and a creamy, thickened sauce taunted him with the knowledge of how hot they’d be if he tried to eat just yet.
“We met our first Predator Class hunter when we were in Dalhurst. Brahdek. He was really skilled with a sword and shield, and considered one of the best hunters to have ever lived. He’d spend all night telling taverns full of people all about his hunts, and the life or death situations he found himself in every day.”
It took a monumental effort for Arheis to keep from rolling his eyes. If all Predator Class hunters were players, then he knew exactly the kind Zindar was talking about. There was a good chance he hadn’t completed even half of the hunts he told others about, and if he had, it’d probably been after several restarts and a lot of pain.
“He was taking hunters along with him, getting a group ready to take on a Culasta. I was dying to see one. My ancestors had information on them, but I’d never actually seen one up close, let alone got the chance to fight one.”
Arheis thought back on his experience with previous Apex games. The beast Zindar was talking about had been on the cover of Apex 4, a game that first hit the market around five years ago. He’d never fought the Culasta—it’d been online only and a Mythical Beast at that, with a hunting party of seven being able to take only three NPCs max.
“We decided we were going to work on getting stronger; ranking up in the Guild and improving our skills, and getting better armor and weapons. There was a woman we’d hunted with for a long time who had the same goals—a Striker named Eva.”
Zindar smiled, taking another bite of pie before he continued. “She was really something. Quicker than anyone I’d ever seen. I once watched her slice the gills off an Anitem in ten seconds flat, no joke.” Arheis whistled. That was impressive, and way beyond his Striker capabilities. “She was great to be around, too. The sort of person who just lights up a room the second they’re in it.”
Arheis had known a few people like that. Mostly girls he’d had a crush on, who were nice to him but only because they were nice to everybody. The Pruvari spoke with such wistfulness that he couldn’t help but wonder if Zindar had harbored a bit of a crush for this Striker, too.
“After a close call, she and Mira grew really close,” he said, looking down at his meal. He was still smiling, but there was something almost bashful about it. Arheis soon understood why. “They really loved each other, you know?”
Zindar’s eyes—now a more muted yellow than they’d been in the field—cast up toward Arheis, just as he began to understand.
Oh. When the Pruvari said really close, he meant really close. Fair enough.
“What happened?” he asked after a long moment and a few more bites that weren’t settling well in his stomach. Not now that he was filled with a slowly growing sense of dread.
“Well, we ranked up enough to catch Brahdek’s eye,” Zindar explained. “He agreed to take us on the Culasta hunt. We all prepared… even over-prepared. At least the three of us did. I never saw him training or buying provisions or anything. And when the day came to set out, everyone was in good spirits.”
The Pruvari looked down at his pie, forced one more bite, then set it aside. The edges had caved into the center, and the whole thing looked a lot less appetizing than it had just moments before.
“It took us a week to track the beast, and once we found it, we made a plan of attack. Everyone had their role to fill… except him. He said it wasn’t needed, and rushed the attack before anyone was ready.”
That was exactly why Arheis didn’t play online if he could help it. He’d been burned too many times by people who ran in and died immediately.
“We recovered as best we could, but he just… I don’t know what he was doing. He was just completely focused on hacking off the tail; nothing else.”
The taste of the savory pie turned bitter in Arheis’ mouth. He’d never met this player before, yet he could empathize with every emotion Zindar was projecting.
“Eventually he did it, and that set the beast into a rage. As soon as it was done with him, it turned on Eva.”
Zindar’s eyes squinted shut as though he were trying to rid himself of the imagery he’d conjured. Apex had never been hyper realistic in terms of blood and gore, but Apex: Untamed was different, and he could only imagine what would have happened to a regular NPC without a competent tank to hold threat.
“Mira… she tried to save them both. The rest of us led the Culasta away and finally managed to kill it, but by the time I was able to get to my friends again, Eva was… gone. Meanwhile the hunter who’d recruited us was on his feet, in rough shape but ranting about how he didn’t get credit for the kill and couldn’t carve anything.”
“God, what an asshole,” Arheis grated out, unable to stop himself.
“Yeah… he was. And I think deep down, Mira knows that. But it’s hard to separate those things. She lost the woman she loved because she followed a Predator Class hunter—someone who thought he was invincible, who didn’t care about anyone else around him. We were all just props in the next story he wanted to tell.”
Arheis finally set his pie aside, his appetite gone. He looked up at the sky and sighed. “I’m sorry, Zindar. I hope you know I’m…”
Not like that? Was that even true? He’d never had much regard for NPCs before, and why should he? In most games they just fainted, or respawned whenever they died. Even in Apex, NPC hunters withdrew from the fight long before they were killed, and usually at the most inconvenient times—like right when he most needed a heal.
The fact that these were real people with lives and loves hadn’t really occurred to him, and any psychiatrist worth their salt would have said there was something wrong with him if he’d personified game characters that way. But Zindar and Amira seemed as real to him as anyone he’d ever worked alongside, and the line between actual reality and virtual reality was getting increasingly blurred.
It was another reminder that he needed to log out, and soon. The last thing he needed to do was get attached to this world and just never get a job or pay any of his bills ever again.
With all that in mind, he walked back the knee-jerk sentiment he’d been about to convey. There was no way he could tell Zindar he wasn’t like that other PC. All he could do was try to be more conscious of his actions and how they affected those around him.
He finally settled on a simple request. “If I’m ever acting that way… tell me, okay?”
Zindar smiled more brightly this time and clapped a hand on Arheis’ shoulder. “Oh, don’t worry. I will. I’m not going to let anybody hurt my friend like that again. But for what it’s worth? I don’t think you will. I think you have a good heart,” the Pruvari said, rapping his knuckles lightly over Arheis’ chest.
All he could do was laugh at that. “You don’t even know me. I could be a serial killer in re—” He caught himself, changing the hyperbolic statement to, “in another life.”
“I don’t think so.” Again Zindar just smiled at him, displaying the hint of his fangs. “If it’ll make you feel better, though, I can pretend like you are?”
The Pruvari hopped down from the wall, landing far more gracefully than Arheis’ half-slide managed. Discarded pies were retrieved, and Arheis looked around for somewhere to throw them out.
“Come on, Killer,” he said, ignoring Arheis’ groan of protest. “I want to visit the smith before it gets too late. You really need some new armor.”
He didn’t have time to say anything about the new nickname, as Zindar was already walking away. Instead Arheis just followed, stopping behind the Pruvari when he slowed, then offered the rest of his pie to a little boy who was covered in dirt and looking like he’d just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The small knife in the boy’s hand made it clear he was probably a cutpurse, and Arheis couldn’t help patting at his coin pouch to make sure it was undisturbed.
“The smith’s just over here,” Zindar said, jerking his chin to indicate the direction.
Arheis looked that way, across the market, and then glanced back at the boy. Or where he’d been. The spot was empty now, the only indication of his presence a footprint in the sand and a carrot that had dropped out of the pie.
Shrugging, he walked with Zindar through the loosely-packed crowd, adding a bit more chaos to what he’d seen before—mainly in the fact that he and the Pruvari weren’t really respecting the flow of traffic.
They made it through relatively unscathed, though, and in the distance Arheis could hear the sound of a hammer on metal. As they drew closer, the acrid smell of smoke filled his lungs, and the tapping was joined by the whoosh of a working bellows, then a loud hiss as hot metal was dunked into water.
The smith’s forge was relatively large, housed around the back of a storefront that had a wooden sign out front denoting a sword and a piece of armor.
Zindar immediately headed toward the back and Arheis continued to follow, finding a familiar face currently holding an in-progress blade over the water.
“Well, well. Long time no see.” The older man gave him a critical look, his bushy eyebrows furrowing. “You didn’t break that spear of yours, did you?”
“Not yet. Give it another day or so.”
Arheis’ response was automatic, and while it got a laugh from Zindar, the surly smith only grunted.
He wasn’t the only one working at the forge, though, Arheis noticed. There was another man who at first glance looked to be half his age. He was barrel-chested, with massive arms built from a lifetime of work at the anvil, and an overall physique Arheis couldn’t help but envy.
The man looked up from his work—some kind of metal plate, from what Arheis could tell—wiped the sweat from his brow, and eyed the newcomers. When his gaze settled on Arheis, his eyes widened.
“Fucking hell, hunter. Did you feed that armor to a Ventresco?”
The man looked genuinely horrified, an expression that only faded when the elder smith cuffed him upside the head.
“Watch your mouth! These are customers you’re talking to, and if they want to mistreat their armor, then it’s all the better for us.”
The younger man winced, but eventually he straightened and set his hammer aside. Coming out from behind the workbench, he offered a hand to Arheis and Zindar.
“Sorry about that. I’m Siv. This is my father, Brahm. I’m guessing you’re here for some new armor?”
“Definitely,” Zindar said, casting a disapproving look at Arheis’ patchwork leather scraps. “Maybe some chainmail?”
Siv nodded, then cast an appraising look at Arheis. Whenever he’d visited a smith in older Apex games, he’d just been able to supply materials and gold and voilà, a perfectly-fitted piece of armor suddenly appeared. He guessed it wouldn’t be the same here.
“I can do basic chainmail. I’d just need to take some measurements. I’d really recommend something sturdier, though. Whatever you were fighting did a number on that armor, and chainmail’s not going to hold up much better without reinforcement.” Siv gestured toward the shop. “Why don’t you come inside with me, and I’ll show you the sorts of things I can make.”
Arheis and Zindar followed, and as soon as they were gone, the tapping resumed, Brahm hard at work on that blade. The three of them meanwhile stepped into the spacious shop, finding display after display of different armors, all of which seemed to heavily integrate beast parts.
There was a dark set that looked to be made of some kind of chitin. One that was crafted of bone and fur. Another that was made of linked scales. And still another that featured claws, teeth, and even a full mandible worked into the design.
Their names appeared as Arheis concentrated on them, along with the cost to buy them outright.
> Full Armor Sets:
Survivalist’s Garb - 5,000GC
Scale Mail - 10,000GC
Beast Slayer’s Raiment - 15,000GC
Holy fucking hell, that was a ton of credits. It would take him weeks to save that much, maybe even months. And considering how they were named, all but the last seemed to be pretty basic. He could only imagine what an end game set of armor was going to cost him.
“Just so I don’t waste your time, I need to be upfront with you and say that I have…” he pulled his coin pouch up and fished around in it, using his thumb to count out credits, “eighteen-hundred and fifty credits.”
Siv hissed in a breath through his teeth. “Oof. I can make a piece of armor for that, but a full set will cost more. Even if you bring me the materials.”
He motioned for them to approach the counter and then ducked behind it himself, pulling out a massive tome. The spine creaked when he opened it, and while it immediately displayed an ornate and pretty badass armor set somewhere in the middle of the book, Siv had to turn back to the very beginning to find something more in Arheis’ price range.
“What are you hunting right now?” he asked.
“Lots of Nepondus,” Zindar said. “And we just got done taking care of some Molclept that had gotten into the larder.”
“I heard about that,” Siv said. “Glad it was taken care of. That place has bad enough food as it is.”
Arheis snorted, but kept himself from commenting. Instead he filled in the gaps Zindar didn’t know about. Or… the one solitary gap in the list of things he’d killed within Apex: Untamed so far.
“I’ve taken out some Lamica, too. I’m… pretty new to all of this.”
That seemed like a logical explanation for the sorry state of his gear. Siv nodded sympathetically, licked his finger to moisten it, and flipped five pages.
“These’ll suit you. They’re not the best quality, but the material cost isn’t too high, and they don’t take long to put together. I could probably be persuaded to knock a bit off the cost, if you’re interested in eventually buying a set.”
Arheis stepped up to the counter and put his hands on the large tome. He flipped to the very first page, finding a drawing of an armor set that looked to be made of various different beast parts, though mainly scales and talons. Each piece was detailed, with the materials listed beside it.
Novice Helm
Slot: Head
Armor Type: Medium
Protection: 5
Materials Required: 6x Chitinous Scale, 2x Lamica Spike, 3x Clump of Fur
Novice Breastplate
Slot: Chest
Armor Type: Medium
Protection: 10
Materials Required: 20x Chitinous Scale, 4x Sturdy Bone, 4x Lamica Spike
Novice Vambraces
Slot: Arms
Armor Type: Medium
Protection: 6
Materials Required: 12x Chitinous Scale, 4x Lamica Spike, 2x Long Claws
Novice Greaves
Slot: Legs
Armor Type: Medium
Protection: 8
Materials Required: 18x Chitinous Scale, 2x Sturdy Bone, 6x Clump of Fur
Novice Gloves
Slot: Hands
Armor Type: Medium
Protection: 4
Materials Required: 8x Chitinous Scale, 2x Lamica Spike, 4x Clump of Fur
Novice Boots
Slot: Feet
Armor Type: Medium
Protection: 4
Materials Required: 8x Chitinous Scale, 2x Lamica Spike, 6x Clump of Fur
Next to the whole set, a price was written: 12,000GC.
How the hell was that in his price range…? Maybe he was missing something.
“Is this the cost with or without materials?” he asked.
“Without,” Siv confirmed. “I buy from the Guild, so you’re basically paying that plus the cost of my time. Bring some of your own materials and I knock down the price. I can do 3,000GC for the set if you bring me everything.”
3,000GC for an entire set of armor seemed like a really good price, but right now he only had a portion of the materials needed. Usually when unable to buy an entire armor set, he upgraded based on what would give him the most benefit, and right now it seemed like the Novice Chestplate fit the bill.
“I’m two Sturdy Bones short for the breastplate,” he realized, looking to Zindar. “Do we have time to hunt a few more Nepondus?”
“Oh, no need.” Reaching into his pack, he pulled out the bones. “How much for the breastplate with the materials supplied?”
“I can do 500GC on that,” Siv said, picking up one of the Sturdy Bones and inspecting it. “I’ve got some other orders to fill, but I can finish it for you by tomorrow morning.”
Arheis fished out the rest of the materials and handed them over, along with the credits. After collecting them, Siv took some measurements of Arheis’ torso, marking them down in a smaller book.
> You have commissioned [Novice Chestplate]! Visit Siv in sixteen hours to collect the finished piece.
Since they were there, Arheis got out his journal and wrote down what he’d need for the rest of the set. He also checked out the smaller—but still sizable—book of augments Brahm brought with him from the beach. Specifically the shield augments, and those meant to reinforce the haft of his spear. The ones from before were listed, but there were a few more he either hadn’t noticed or hadn’t unlocked earlier.
Slick Shield
Novice Augmentation
By coating your shield with viscous saliva, you make it more resistant to periodic damaging effects such as rain, wind, and even fire.
Materials Required: 6x Beast Saliva (Any)
Stretched Hide Shield
Novice Augmentation
By stretching a well-tooled hide over your shield, you make it more effective without adding too much weight.
Materials Required: 3x Beast Hide (Any)
Strong Haft - Improved
Novice Augmentation
By replacing the haft of your spear with Sturdy Bones, you create a much more durable weapon.
