Hunter's Bond, page 16
Materials Required: 4x Sturdy Bone
Something to keep in mind for when he had more materials. And more credits. Arheis made a note of the requirements before finishing his window shopping and leaving the smiths to their work.
“Did you not need anything?” he asked.
“My weapons are hard to augment. Any modifications made to them need to use my ancestors’ technology, and that’s not so easy to find these days.” Zindar poked at his chest armor, a leather piece that seemed in much better shape than Arheis’. “My next upgrade needs Occasa parts.”
“Sounds like we need to get around to hunting some Ocassa at some point, then,” he said.
Zindar nodded. “Let’s get you registered and ranked up some. We can check Guild postings in the morning, after we pick up your new armor. For now, I have a couple errands to run.”
He lifted the pie, still covered in cloth, and Arheis nodded. It was probably best for him to keep his distance from Amira right now, and he needed to see about provisions anyway.
“Meet at the Hackleback Inn tonight?” Zindar asked. “It’s nicer than the Crooked Palm, and not too much more expensive.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Zindar extended a hand and Arheis reached out with some instinct he didn’t even know he had, giving the Pruvari’s hand a firm pump before they went their separate ways.
Chapter 15
Once he’d taken care of a few small errands including buying some potions and other hunting essentials, Arheis got a room at the suggested inn and let himself inside with his newly-loaned key.
The room at the Hackleback was far better than the last. The bed—while still more of a pallet than anything else—was covered in thick furs and featured two fluffy pillows that he assumed were filled with some kind of down.
There was a chair and a small writing desk, with the wood only barely in need of a polish. A more secure chest of drawers sat at the foot of the bed, and there was even a small hearth that Arheis had no intention of using, but was still nice to see. It made him think of a decent—though still inexpensive with a coupon—hotel off the highway.
Setting down his pack, he pulled out the things he’d bought to better arrange them for easy access. The healing potions came in three small vials, and he’d purchased a new leather belt that was specially made to hold potions as well as his coin pouch and hunting knife. The healing potions had cost him a pretty penny—fifty credits each, to be exact. The belt was twenty-five, the bandages he’d bought were five, and the length of rope he’d purchased in hopes of setting up simple traps was another three credits, leaving him with a whole one-thousand and sixty-seven credits once he paid the one-hundred credit cost of the inn room.
Fitting the potions and rope into the belt, Arheis tried it on and examined the new look as best he could. It wasn’t the most stylish thing, but it was functional, and already he felt a little more competent.
> You have learned Preparation. Stock up and take precautions before a hunt to increase your overall success.
Oh, good. Another skill to look into. Stuffing the bandages into his pack and setting it inside the chest of drawers along with his new belt, Arheis took a seat on the edge of the bed. Once again, it didn’t bounce like any mattress he’d ever sat on, but there was a certain comfort to the warm furs—even with as hot and humid as Lacerda was.
Closing his eyes and blocking out his surroundings, he decided to check in on his Character panel. Even though he’d leveled up already and distributed his points, it would be helpful to see any other systems at work. Considering he wasn’t really going to get a chance to look out in the field, now seemed as good a time as any.
> Status:
Name: Arheis
Level: 3
Guild Rank: 0 *
Class: Guardian
Quests Completed: 2
Active Quests: 1
Deaths: 1
Currency: 1,067GC
* You have not met with a Guild Curator yet. Once you do, your actual Guild Rank will be revealed.
The screen continued to a second page entirely focused on reputation.
> Reputation:
Village of Lacera: Unknown
Lady Katherine Crew: Friendly
Zindar of the Pruvari: Friendly
Amira Alvaro: Dubious
That was an understatement. He had no idea if reputation was tied to any specific game mechanics, but considering there was an entire page dedicated to it—and his was pathetically small—he assumed he needed to put more care into improving those listed.
Satisfied for now, Arheis dismissed the menus, finding himself still in that empty inn room. A nap sounded like a great idea, but he’d made a promise to himself that he was going to log off. Just for a few hours. Long enough that he could meet Zindar later in the evening.
An odd sort of anxiety filled him as he accessed the NeuroJak and the menu that would lead him back home. Severing himself from this world shouldn’t have made him feel a sense of loss, but that was exactly what he felt as he focused on the option to log out.
After a brief countdown, everything went black. There was no light and nothing around him to look at. No sound. No smell. It was disorienting and frankly a little terrifying, and when his senses returned to him, Arheis felt a little dizzy.
No, he wasn’t Arheis anymore, was he? Not here. Here he was just Simon. An unemployed twenty-something bachelor who lived in a sad, single-bedroom apartment in a sketchy part of town because it was one of the few places he could comfortably afford.
Opening his eyes, Simon took in the four walls around him painted in a stark white. They felt constricting now, rather than something he usually just accepted or ignored. The apartment had never seemed especially large to him, but now it felt even smaller than the inn room he’d just inhabited.
Lifting his hand to his temple, he disengaged the NeuroJak with a tug. The blue light inside of it blinked twice, then dimmed to show it was in standby mode. He set it on his desk and stretched, drawing his arms up over his head. That felt good, but not in the same way it did after hours of a typical gaming session.
In fact, Simon realized he was actually quite tired. When he went to push himself out of his chair, he felt an ache in his body as though he’d spent an hour in the gym that morning. He took that moment to center himself and check in with his other needs, and found he practically had none.
He wasn’t hungry. Sure, he could’ve gone for some ice cream on a whim, but his body wasn’t demanding food or water. His bladder wasn’t raising hell. Outside of the fatigue and the aches in his muscles, he felt normal.
While the adjustment to seeing the real world again had been jarring, walking around his apartment wasn’t. He remembered where everything was and navigated it flawlessly, just as he’d done a million times before. There was a sense of disconnect in what exactly he was supposed to be doing, though, and Simon just stood in the kitchen for a while before finally pouring himself some water from the spout in the fridge. He might not have been dying of thirst, but it was a common and comforting habit.
The cold water made him think of something else he didn’t have access to in Apex: A shower. Heading into the bathroom, Simon stripped down and took a long shower—as hot as he could stand it. He let the water ease his aching muscles, and at first enjoyed it as a novelty before it felt like just another day.
When he got out, his mind turned toward other things he couldn’t do in Apex, and he flipped on the TV, pulling up one of his favorite shows. It played in the background as he checked his phone. HR had apparently sent him an email about when he could pick up his last check, but there was nothing else aside from ads from the local pizza place and some junk mail.
Making use of the coupon that was just sitting in his inbox, Simon ordered a medium pizza with peppers, onions, and sausage. While he waited for it to come, he checked his social media. None of his friends had messaged him, but why would they? He hadn’t told anyone he’d quit yet.
He knew he should, but his mind resisted it almost violently. Telling others he’d walked out on the job meant he had to start his job search now, and he wasn’t ready to do that. He deserved at least one night off from life, didn’t he? One night to just forget about the rat race and take care of himself.
That was what he went with, at least, and when the pizza arrived he tipped generously and pulled a beer out of the back of the fridge. It wasn’t something he indulged in often, but he popped the top after sitting down with a few slices of steaming hot pizza and set out to just enjoy himself for a few hours.
The second he put the pizza in his mouth, though, it was just… forgettable. Not bad. But not good, either. There was nothing noteworthy about it, and Simon chewed mechanically as he watched a show that wasn’t nearly as funny as he remembered it. Even the beer tasted more watered down than usual, and he found himself just drinking it because it was there.
By the time he was through, he was itching to get back to Apex. The world he lived in as Simon Henderson felt as forgettable as that pizza. But Arheis could make a difference. Arheis could take down beasts ten times his size without breaking a sweat. He could save an entire village from a creature that had admittedly kicked his ass during their first encounter.
Maybe he could even convince a beautiful woman not to hate him, though he supposed that was better than her not knowing he existed.
Cleaning up after himself and taking care of his bodily functions, Simon went back to his desk. As he reached for the NeuroJak, he saw the framed picture of he and his mother displayed prominently. It’d been taken a few years before she died, when he’d surprised her by taking her to the Space Center at Cape Canaveral. It’d been her favorite vacation spot when he was young, but for whatever reason they hadn’t returned there in over a decade.
Simon picked up the picture to get a better look at it. He was smiling in it, but not with the uninhibited joy he’d felt as a child. His mom, though… She looked like she was having the time of her life. It was back when she still had all of her hair. Back when she wasn’t violently ill all the time. When she looked like a vivacious middle-aged woman instead of a walking corpse trying to fight back against an awful disease.
He touched the picture as he’d done a thousand times before. That connection at least was intact. He still felt that deep sense of loss and sadness, tinged with the fond memories he held close to his heart. Nothing else had felt demonstrably better or different from the feelings he got in the world of Apex, but this did. This was his tether, and he kept it nearby.
It was strange to pick up the NeuroJak after that, but his mother had raised him to be kind and conscientious. To stick up for those who had less than him. To always act with empathy instead of judging someone. What opportunities had his job given him to do any of that?
None at all.
But in Apex, he could be a better person. Not just in terms of his stats or abilities, but in ways his mother would be proud of.
Attaching the NeuroJak to his head, Simon settled into his chair and prepared to become Arheis once more.
It was dark when he regained consciousness in the inn room he’d left hours earlier. He still sat on the edge of the bed, feeling exactly the same as he had before he put the NeuroJak on. One glance at the HUD confirmed all his needs were met, and the timer warning him to log out after three days had reset itself.
With a stronger sense of purpose, Arheis made his way downstairs and met with Zindar. They both paid for their own dinner and ale this time, and though he kept to something light, it still tasted light years more interesting than the pizza he’d mindlessly eaten.
As they ate, Zindar laid out a plan for tomorrow. He’d gotten wind of another quest. One very tired father was willing to pay a hefty price for someone to rescue his daughter’s dog. The poor thing had wandered off into the jungle the day before, apparently, and hadn’t come home.
While the chances of the animal being alive seemed depressingly low, Zindar explained there was a cluster of Lamica nearby and it would give Arheis a chance to practice his skills.
It was funny. When he started up Apex: Untamed, he would have found any excuse to get out of a group quest. This was his time to be alone; to embrace the solitude and test his own skills. But the prospect of completing quests with Zindar in his party made him feel better about his overall chances. That night, he settled onto the fur pallet with excitement thrumming through his veins. Tomorrow, he and Zindar were going to find that dog, completely unharmed and eager to go back to his family.
And with any luck, he’d learn how to hold threat like a decent tank.
Chapter 16
As it turned out, Arheis never got the chance to look for that dog.
He was awoken in the middle of the night by a raucous commotion downstairs. Sitting up in his bed, blearily trying to figure out what the hell was going on, he was reminded of his early twenties, when he’d lived in an apartment complex frequented by college students. Nevermind that he himself was a college student at that time. He had class in the morning and work after that, so being jolted awake by loud music and drunken shouting was never his idea of a good time.
There was no music here, and the shouting seemed more harried than drunken, as though something had happened. Cold dread coiled in Arheis’ gut as he dressed and made his way downstairs, still stumbling a little.
“I don’t need bandages, dammit!” a large man with a thick mustache yelled at the innkeeper. “I need a healer! Do you have one staying here or not?”
As Arheis had learned earlier, the innkeeper could only speak a few useful phrases in the Common tongue. Zindar had been able to communicate with him in his native language, and that was likely why they’d been given relatively fresh bread with their stew. Now, though, the man was struggling to placate the angry intruder.
Part of him expected Zindar to just appear on cue and defuse the situation with a toothy grin and his knowledge of both languages, but the Pruvari hadn’t shown himself just yet. It was up to Arheis to handle things, and he stepped forward with only somewhat flagging confidence.
“What’s wrong? Why do you need a healer?” he asked the mustachioed man.
Arheis instantly regretted his decision to get involved when the man turned to him. He was so tall and so broad that he wondered if Apex had added a half-giant race to its roster of NPCs. His features were human, though, and Arheis decided the man was just very, very large. And very, very angry.
“My boy and the others. They’ve been poisoned. He’s going to die if I don’t get him to a healer!” Anger gave way to raw fear, the likes of which Arheis felt deep inside.
He reacted off of instinct yet again and said, “I know a healer.” Though he had no idea where she was staying. Maybe the inn they’d been at before? He’d have to ask Zindar. “Hold on. My friend knows where to find her.”
As Arheis turned to bolt up the stairs, the door to the inn was thrown open and a man bellowed from the threshold. “We’ve found a healer!”
The man followed, not sparing anyone else a second glance. His dark skin still had an unnatural pallor to it, and he ran with heavy steps. Arheis was so busy watching the man leave that he didn’t realize he’d been joined on the stairs.
“What happened?” Zindar asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
The fur on his head was sticking up every which way, and at any other time, Arheis might have felt the urge to give the Pruvari a little bit of a pet. Fortunately the situation was dire enough to chase that idea away. “I’m not sure. A big guy came in saying his son was poisoned.”
“Mustache?” the Pruvari asked. Arheis nodded. “That’s Higrem. He’s Mayor of this village, and a high-ranking member of the Guild. His son is a village guard.”
Well, shit. At least he’d tried to be helpful? Exchanging a look with Zindar, Arheis nodded and the two of them left the inn together. As soon as they stepped outside, what should have been a quiet street was mired in chaos.
Men and women were being half-carried, half-dragged over to the encampment where Mira had healed the others. In the light of a few torches, Arheis could see they were all deathly pale, with sickly wounds on their arms, shoulders, necks, and—in one case—face. He didn’t have to ask to know the cause. Nepondus cubs. And considering everyone brought through the gates was wearing the gear of a guard or a hunter, it seemed plausible the village had decided to fight back against the over-abundance of cubs.
“We have to see if she needs help,” Zindar said, rushing toward the encampment.
Mira was there, in the center of it all. Zindar had spotted her before Arheis did, but he wasn’t remotely surprised to see her. Maybe she hadn’t even slept yet. She looked exhausted, but there was a determination to the set of her brow as she gave orders to bystanders and guards that were well enough to aid her.
“What can we do?” Arheis asked as he reached the camp.
The healer was shepherding a young man onto one of the cots. Before he reached it, he retched violently, spewing a black, bile-like substance all over the ground and the front of his uniform.
“Mix more of what we made yesterday,” she told Zindar before turning to one of the guards. “Help him into bed. Be careful.”
Arheis waited as she gave instructions to everyone but him. The prideful part of him he tried to suppress thought it was by choice, but it was obvious from how hectic the scene around them was that she wasn’t choosing anything. She was running on instinct alone, trying to apply order to the chaos. So Arheis took it upon himself to find something he could do. He looked around and saw the cots rapidly filling with patients—and the scared, worried throng of family members and loved ones who kept trying to push their way into the camp.
“Give them some room,” he said, moving toward one such group of people. He put his arms out and tried to look more intimidating than he usually felt. “Get back!”
