Path To Radiance; First Ascent

Chapter 8 - Skill Games and Party Changes: Part 2

I politely brush off his sales pitch. We have things to do. "I will consider that in the future, Johann. Thanks. I am Jut by the way."

I quickly introduce everyone in the party to him. Even if he was in the room during our registration, it would be rude to not do so. Johann seems to be a little extra polite to the women in our party. Weird programming for an NPC.

After he is introduced to everyone properly, I precede to excuse us. I do my best to not be rude and still get us out of there quickly. "It has been nice to meet you, Johann. Thank you for the information. We really must be going. We shall return soon." He accepts our goodbye pleasantly and we turn to leave.

Brick is staring at the chalkboard. In golden writing that was not there before, my name is scrawled in block print across a small space in the top left-hand corner.

1st Floor: Jut Zoak

"Wow!" Brick exclaims. He raises both of his fists in the air. "That is true incentive right there, to be added to the Wall of Fame. Well done Path to Radiance game."

"Excuse me?" Alexa asks loudly. "Adventurer Almight, did you say game?"

"Yeah, this is a game, right?"

"What kind game do you mean, Sir?" Alexa looks honestly puzzled.

I interject. "Oh. He's always been the playful type, Miss Alexa. I hope you have a nice day and don't work too hard." I wave at her and walk everyone out of the Tower. Brick follows me reluctantly. He keeps glancing over his shoulder at the female NPC.

The sunlight is fading as we get out to the street. Long shadows are cast by every building. My ACE reads seven sixteen p.m.

The party just walks straight to the markets from the Tower. I use the guys as a traffic break again and Aeona is walking with Tella. They seem to be talking about Tella's oath to me. I am not going to get in the middle of that. I understand Aeona's aversion to Tella's swearing fealty to me. Hell, I even agree on some level, but it was Tella's choice. I think she understands that but is adjusting to the idea.

Instead of chatting, I decided to review the new prompts that are waiting for me.

Congratulations Player!

You are part of the Party that unlocked the First Floor of the Heavenly Tower!

+1500 EXP

Finally the golden light of leveling up explodes from me, too. Knowing it was silly at the time, I still felt a little jealous of the group leveling up without me.

Congratulations Player! You have reached Level 3!

As a Human - Dragonkin, you gain 7 Characteristic points per attribute spent. You have unlocked no skills or features at this level. Good Luck and reach for the Heavens!

I dismiss that window. The next step is to spend my attribute and characteristic points from both level gains. I decide to place at least one point into Spirit this time.  After doing so, my character page reads:

Basic
Name: Jut Kylos Zoak
Title: Leader
Level: 3
Race: Human
Sub-Race: Dragon-Kin
Age: 24
Rank: Basic
Roll: Tank
Class: None
HP: 32
MP: 22
Stamina: 31

Attributes
Free points: 0
Body: 2
Spirit: 1
Civil: 0

Characteristics
(Body)
Strength: 12
Stamina: 11
Agility: 11

(Spirit)
Intellect: 14
Wisdom: 12
IQ: 12

(Civil)
Charisma: 10
Influence: 10
Luck: 10

I feel pretty good about my stats overall. I try to even them all out as best I can. Being well rounded seems like a better idea at my low level. I could branch out into any build I want later on if I feel the need. I am frustrated because I still don't have access to the twenty-two mana points I have accumulated. That is something that needs to change right away. Why play a fantasy game if I can't use magic?

We arrive at the nearest game shop quicker than I thought we would. I glance around at the sparse foot traffic. Where is everyone? Brick leads us in through the glass door and everyone splits up to look around.

According to my father, this is exactly what a video rental store was like back in the day. Everyone quickly loses themselves in scanning the titles. After a good half hour, everyone has made a couple of purchases. I got my skill games quickly.

We all meet back up and head out the door, someone finally asks the question. I knew the answer but sometimes it is just better to let people learn things on their own.

"Wait a second. How do we play these?" Aeona asks, stopping dead in her tracks.

"You need a Game Node. He sells them in there." I point back at the store we had just left. There's a sign on the door:

Skill Games and Nodes sold here!

I had purchased a Game Node myself earlier. Everyone else runs inside to pick up a system if they can. How they could forget the most important part, I don't know. Noobs. Once we finally began walking again, everyone begins talking about their Nodes and the games. Tella is silent and walking evenly with me. I gently elbow her in the ribs.

"What Node did you purchase?" I ask her.

"I could only afford a game or system, my Lord." She looks at the ground, shamefaced.

"Don't worry about it. In fact, " I raise my voice so everyone can hear me. "Hey, guys, real quick." I wave for everyone to stop and come into a comfortable speaking distance. "If you guys wanted to, we could go and use my Node in one of our rooms." I pull my Node out. Everyone takes a turn to examine it thoroughly. Once they register what it is, they all fall quiet. Some of the party looks surprised. Tella is the first to break the shocked silence.

"How could you afford this, my Lord?" Tella asks.

"Well, I bought it with Tower Gems instead of coin."

"How many do you have left?" Aeona asks. She gives me a suspicious look like she's trying to count my gems with her glare.

"Now? like twenty." I shrug.

Brick whistles. "Dang man, did you really spend two hundred and thirty Gems in two days?"

"Yep," I say confidently.

"On what?" Tamos has the most comical reaction out of everyone. His eyes are large as saucers and his voice is hushed.

"That, my friends, is a surprise for later. I have to look into something first." I chuckle.