4 How to Slay Monsters

During the planning phase of game development, which to Leo's recollection happened only thirty days ago, one of the biggest debates he and Morgana had was related to Leo's proposed leveling system.

Leo had stressed two considerations. "Players need to see their improvements in a measurable way," and, "A job system gives players more play-style choices, adding variety to the way they can enjoy the game."

Morgana liked this initial idea because the stronger players became the more powerful she would become as she owned their contracts.

Leo guessed that was the case but he still needed to know exactly how she would become stronger.

This prompted Morgana to pull out the turquoise marble she'd snatched up from the ground after she'd killed the hooded figure that had been chasing after Leo.

"This is a soul stone… It's what we denizens of the Abyss call the condensed, crystalized form of soul energy," Morgana explained as she showed him the marble on her palm. "Consuming the essence within this soul stone increases the amount of soul energy within my soul core."

"Let me guess, a soul core is the container for this soul energy?" Leo deduced.

"It's more than just a container, silly," Morgana laughed her tinkling laugh. "It's your very essence given form… the beating heart of your soul."

"And this beating heart isn't fixed, is it?" Leo presumed. "It can be depleted or replenished like a gas tank… which means it can also expand."

"Evolve," Morgana corrected. "Expansion as you put it would mean evolving a soul into something that can contain the excess soul energy."

Just like that, a light bulb was lit inside Leo's brain. The conventional system he'd been planning to create was blown out of the waters of creativity inside his mind for the framework of an entirely new system had just surfaced from creativity's depths.

"When players' souls evolve do you evolve too?" Leo asked.

Morgana shook her head.

"Reaper souls are less malleable than human souls. It would take a colossal effort for me to evolve to a higher state… She frowned, and it lasted barely a moment before reforming back into her patented perky smile. "There are still many benefits for me though."

"What kind of benefits?" Leo pressed.

"Evolution awakens new abilities in a soul, abilities I can take for myself should they interest me." Morgana rubbed her hands together like some mustachioed villain in an old school movie. "Plus, I can siphon off soul energy from souls serving me."

"Ten percent," Leo said quickly as he thought to nip the bud on this issue now was the best thing to do. "That's all you can take from the players."

"What? That's too low!" Morgana looked aghast. "I demand sixty percent per consumption of essence."

Thus began their first argument in what would be an ongoing debate over the use and storage of soul energy, for it was then that Leo discovered Morgana's one major flaw — she was a greedy b**ch.

It could be said that Leo won this important verbal spar as they'd agreed on a thirty percent take on all player consumption of essence. It was still higher than he would have liked but much lower than Morgana's initial demand.

They'd spent a lot of their time ironing out the kinks in their soul system. And even now, as Leo and Morgana watched from behind an outcropping of rock while Ath3na — who was standing not fifteen feet away — searched the craggy wasteland for her prey, Leo still wasn't sure if the system was working at peak performance.

"Morgana, activate the battle tutorial," Leo ordered.

Morgana snapped her fingers, and seconds later, a window appeared in front of player number one.

[BATTLE TUTORIAL WILL BEGIN. BRACE YOURSELF.]

Seemingly out of reflex, Ath3na brushed back the bead of sweat that slid down her cheek and looked visibly surprised by how wet it was. She glanced down at her finger and moved her thumb across its wet surface.

"The sensory immersion in this game is really impressive," she whispered.

Her praise of something Leo didn't actually have a hand in making made him smile wryly to himself. If only Ath3na knew that this wasn't actually a game, perhaps her mind would get blown away even more. Leo's own mind constantly felt that way, after all.

"Oh, the wraith bait worked. One of them just arrived!" Morgana announced.

A familiar inhuman howl assaulted all their ears and caused a sinister chill to rise up Leo's back. He'd heard that evil call before. By the look of horror on Ath3na's own face, Leo guessed his little Easter egg guardian had made a very big impression on her as well.

Ath3na faced forward with wary eyes and saw the figure in its tattered cloak floating a mere ten feet away from her. Its dark silhouette set against the brilliant flashes of lightning in the gray sky above it.

"Holy sh**… you followed me here!" she exclaimed.

That wasn't exactly true, Leo thought. The last one was fake. This one was most certainly real and very, very dangerous.

A nametag appeared above this hooded figure's head. [Life-Draining Lesser Wraith] was written on its tag in bright yellow colors.

Leo knew that an experienced gamer like Ath3na would understand the meaning of the yellow color which universally stood for caution. To a gamer's mind, however, yellow simply meant doable.

He saw the obviously freaked out expression on her face. Yet the spear in her hands barely shook which Leo thought was admirable.

"I could have given her a much better weapon," Morgana complained.

She was clearly still miffed that Leo wouldn't allow her to spruce up Ath3na's gear beyond the basics.

He responded with a shake of his head. "I told you, a huge part of the fun is earning great equipment on your own… It's much more interesting than starting out with over-leveled gear."

Morgana's counter was lost in the moment as Ath3na had moved into an attack stance.

"Oh, here we go…" Morgana snapped her fingers, and a puff of white smoke sent a bucket of popcorn floating between her and Leo. "I really enjoy this mortal snack you introduced me to, Leo."

Leo glanced over to the snack in the air and wondered if eating popcorn while watching a deathmatch was insensitive of him. But, as Leo's conscience wasn't exactly what one would call saint-like, the heady aroma of melted butter easily pushed him over the edge, and he found himself grabbing a handful of the fluffy white treat.

At the same time as Morgana and Leo enjoyed their first bite of popcorn, Ath3na pointed her spear squarely at the wraith, who, until this moment was just floating there and observing her.

In reaction to her threatening stance, the wraith glided toward her, bringing with it a biting cold that even Leo could feel from the safety of his hiding place.

As the wraith came within range, Ath3na thrust her spear forward in one quick movement and pierced into the wraith's billowing robe, eliciting a screech of pain from the vile thing.

Weirdly enough, it wasn't just Ath3na who looked relieved that her attack was successful. Leo had felt a rush of relief himself. He wasn't entirely certain weapons forged by the town's smiths could damage the denizens living in the Abyssal plains. Luckily for Ath3na, her weapon was useful.

"Oo~~oh, she's good," Morgana commented appreciatively.

Leo and Morgana continued to watch Ath3na's battle like spectators in a mixed martial arts tournament, oo~ohing at moments where Ath3na showed off her fighting skill and cringing at every close call.

A swipe of the wraith's emaciated hand nearly gouged into Ath3na's abdomen, and although Leo noticed that her abs were very firm, he was also acutely aware that the white shirt and pants they'd given her had zero defensive capabilities. One hit might be all it took for her to go down.

"Yeah… you might be right, after all, Morgana," Leo conceded while he chomped on more popcorn. "They might be better off with better armor."

"Told… you," Morgana said through a mouthful of popcorn.

Ath3na dodged another swipe of the wraith's hand, but its next attack came just as swiftly. She tried to block it with her spear, only to have its rusted iron haft broken in two by the force of the wraith's murderous swipe.

"Oh, Lord of Death, that's unfortunate…" Morgana had her hands over her face now although she was clearly peeking through the gap between her fingers. "She's going to die, isn't she?"

"Not if she remembers what I told her before I sent her out of town," Leo reasoned. "Come on, player one, use your brain!"

Sensing its prey's increased panic, the wraith intensified its frenzied assault on Ath3na, forcing the player to dodge for her life.

She held onto the two broken pieces of her spear and escaped to the side. Then she ran away, and the wind whipped at her long brown hair as she ran, forcing her to brush it back behind her ears.

"Should we help her?" Morgana asked in concern. "I don't mind mortals dying but hers would be wasteful…"

Leo shook his head although his own chest was pumping hot-blooded anxiety into his brain. If Ath3na died now then their timeline for the game's rollout would get delayed, which meant his own resurrection would be postponed.

"Have a little faith, kid," Leo said. "That woman solved our Easter egg. She can handle this."

Ath3na kept running through the desolate landscape, avoiding the outcropping of rock that jutted out ahead of her and incidentally hid the two stalkers watching over her battle. She looked over her shoulder and saw the wraith gliding after her with a speed it hadn't shown off before.

"Soul energy… that's what Maestro called the power in this game…" Ath3na huffed. "How do I access it again?"

Ath3na looked to be running out of breath and Leo knew she wouldn't be able to tell just how much more steam she had left as there was no stamina display in her field of view. For that matter, Leo hadn't bothered with a health or mana bar either. He always thought those were crutches that prevented players from really immersing themselves in their virtual reality bodies.

"To know thyself is to know true wisdom. And to search for wisdom is to know thy own soul," Ath3na whispered, repeating the words Maestro had said to her. "Sh**! I don't have time for fortune cookie wisdom!"

Noticing her desperation, Leo knew Ath3na would be forced to try anything, even slowing to a stop so she could close her eyes and look within herself despite the monster chomping at her heels. That, he believed, was the first step to her enlightenment.

Barely a second had passed when Ath3na's face lit up with understanding, and Leo guessed she'd seen the ball of light pulsating deep inside her.

"Told you she can handle it," Leo laughed.

Of course, it was easy, as Ath3na, after being thrown into the abyss was split off from her mortal coil. As a spiritual being, there was no veil separating her from her own soul. But she didn't know that and neither Leo nor Morgana were inclined to reveal this fact to her.

"Hey, what color's her soul core?" Leo asked curiously.

"Blue…" Morgana whispered breathlessly. She was hungrily staring into Ath3na's soul and the pulsing orb inside her with its beautiful glow.

"Easy there… don't go draining her soul now," Leo reminded Morgana.

The reaper girl swallowed hard. "I know… I'm not some weakling who can't control herself, Leo."

It was around this time when confidence returned to the face of the goddess of gaming wisdom, and she turned around, eyes still shut.

Leo guessed that she was attempting to use her soul core but crucial seconds were wasted and nothing happened.

Alarmed by her failure, Ath3na opened her eys but she was too late. The wraith's clammy fingers clamped down on her throat. It began choking the life out of her, and worse, much worse.

Leo saw the wraith's mouth finally revealed beyond the dark depth of its hood, a creepy sucker that reminded him of an earthworm's gaping maw and the sharp teeth that encircled it.

Ath3na screamed in palpable fear. It was a scream the wraith mimicked and it was utterly horrible for the young woman as well as the game designer who heard it.

Leo saw Ath3na's life get drained away from her as the wraith's maw drew ever closer. He knew that the creature was sucking out her soul energy from her core like an addict inhaling smoke from a bong. That's when inspiration struck him — the last gambit at the edge of his player's life.

He broke the silence that lay between him and Ath3na and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Take a deep breath, as deep as you can manage, then let it all out like you're releasing all the good juju inside you!"

Ath3na's face was racked with pain, but it was clear from her reaction that she'd heard him.

"Do it!" Leo yelled again, his anger at seeing Ath3na's desperate struggle breaking through to his voice.

Despite the fingers grasping her neck, Ath3na managed to take in that deep breath. Then, following Leo's instructions, Ath3na released her breath of life and Leo knew it was more than just the air she'd taken in. Her soul energy had leaked out.

This leaked out energy wrapped around Ath3na almost automatically, bringing renewed vitality to her tired muscles and giving her the strength necessary to shake off her enemy.

Leo formed a fist in triumph, and with his anger and worry ebbing, he watched the rest of the show with bated breath.

Ath3na screamed, but it didn't sound like one of fear, but a defiant, angry roar born out of frustration.

In the next instant, she plunged both halves of her spear into the wraith that clung to her. She was just in time too as the creature's hooded face was barely an inch away from her own, their lips nearly touching in what would certainly have been a kiss of death.

The wraith screamed in pain after Ath3na's attack skewered its chest. It released its hold on her as it tried to pull away, desperate to escape.

Ath3na wouldn't let it. She pulled out the spear tip from the wraith's body while keeping the other broken haft inside it to pin the monster in place. Then, like a savage, Ath3na plunged the spear's pointy end into the wraith's hood again and again while it writhed against her.

The wraith tried but couldn't escape Ath3na's grasp because her body had been reinforced by her own soul energy. A blue aura wrapped around her, making Ath3na feel stronger than ever before.

The wraith unleashed one final, pitiful screech before it shattered into a thousand tiny pieces of glass that coalesced together on the craggy ground to form a glowing turquoise marble.

Noticeably weary in both body and mind, Ath3na dropped to her knees and let out a long and desperate breath. Despite her victory, everyone present knew she was on the verge of death herself so it was no surprise to Leo or Morgana when Ath3na toppled over and passed out.

"Wow... that was impressive," Morgana whispered breathlessly.

Leo nodded wordlessly. Player one had just proved her worth as well as the worth of the system they built. This meant his time in the Abyss hadn't been wasted time after all.

"Let's wake her up and get her to absorb the essence… and make this investment worth our while," Morgana finished.