Digitas Chapter 6

“Yuck!!”

 

Scarlett screamed in disgust as green goo sprayed all over her. “What is this, - this freaky disgusting- yuck!”

 

“Quit your whining. I told you before. You. Are. Not. Welcome. Here.” Leon spat as he wiped his sword clean with a cloth. “If that was an acid slime, you will not be standing alive over there right now.”

 

Scarlett eyes widened as she realized what that meant immediately toning down her squirming as she continued to wipe off the remnants of the dead slime from her armor, if you could call it anything like one. It barely sport any protection in any areas deemed important defensively.

 

 Yet, thanks to the game’s mechanic, armor’s appearance can be ‘glossed’ by a skilled enchanter, giving it an appearance of another while maintaining its defensive properties. However, a skilled adventurer with sufficient perception could see through this guise.

 

Leon had a lot of time invested in training his perception statistic, it was vital for an adventurer traveling alone to identify his surroundings. Going alone was dangerous, if you fell for a disabling trap, it could immediately spell game over for him. Even with his level skill, he could not detect any form of glossing; it was literally junk metal, strings and chains made to look sexually revealing and nothing much else.

 

“Take it off.” Leon commanded.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“That piece of useless eye candy of an armor. Take if off. I have gotten a few basic light armor drops from earlier, even you should meet its pathetic statistic requirement.” Leon explained as he selected ‘Basic Chain Mail’ from his inventory and dropped the parcel in front of her. “If you are going to be annoying, at least take a few hits for me while you are at it.” Leon grunted as Scarlett stared at the parcel, unsure of what to do with it.

 

“Put it on.”

 

“How?”

 

“Oh, for f**k’s sake. What do you know about this game? Put it on from your menu. It will just warp on you, so don’t bother to find a place to hide that skinny body of yours.” Leon face palmed in frustration.

 

“What?! Skinny?!” Scarlett shrieked.

 

“Can it!” Leon screamed, lunging at a surprised Scarlett and muffling it with her hands. “Most monsters can literally listen. With my level, it isn’t a problem for me, but even in lower level areas like this, there is always still an Elite Spawn. And that, I cannot take down alone. So keep it down. Understand?”

 

Scarlett nodded frantically, her eyes still wide in surprise from the sudden assault. “I am NOT skinny.” She reiterated as Leon loosened his grip.

 

Leon contemplated just finishing her off right now. One blow should do it. She was lowering his odds of survival. But, something was definitely off. It wasn’t only the inability to log out, but the teleport stones. What if there was a bug with resurrection as well. He had read about stories like this and he knew all too well how they ended up going.  

 

“Alright, stay close, quiet and move fast.” Leon barked as he shoved the dead slime aside and resumed his quick paced march. He had to see Him. If there was one person who would know what has or is happening right now, it would be Him.

 

“Where are we going?” Scarlett moaned as she stretched uncomfortably on the newly warped chain mail. “And this thing is so uncomfortable!”

 

“You will know when the time comes. And stop fidgeting; the system is taking your measurements to fit that armor. You will only make it worse.” Leon replied without looking back, keeping the same pace and maintaining a constant lookout. It was a pre-currency tradition of travel. Move fast. Look out. Fight only one at a time. These were the three simple rules on the road for the lone traveler.

 

Leon was a pre-currency member; members who joined prior to pixels being announced as a tradable financial commodity. Back then, the only people in this world were gamers, in it for the questing, intricate battle system and the likes. After the announcement, post-currency members joined in; members who were in it for the money. Traders, craftsmen and in-game businesses sprung up like never before drowning the part time craftsmen who prior to that had to split their time between adventuring and domestic upkeep. Post-currency brought about an unprecedented specialization of roles in this world and post-currency warriors rarely had any experience in advanced survival skills nor do they travel alone.

 

Just as pre-currency players were tenaciously self-sufficient so were the post-currency players in terms of efficiency. Post-currency players saw the investment of corporations into clans and turning them into pixel-farms; with optimized dungeon runs and paid salaries with clearly defined roles and contracts. A typical post currency fighter does one thing and one thing only but does it extremely well.

“We should go to the Capital. I have friends there. I am sure they will help sort us out. Heck, I might even vouch for you.” Scarlett mentioned as she attempted to keep pace with Leon.

 

“We are heading to the Capital of Patina. Pru-City to be exact.” Leon replied, still focused on the surroundings. “You can go to your friends. I have a Datamancer to consult.”

 

“Alright, just one more day with this girl. Just one more day. Just bear with it Leon. Breathe, and walk.”