C3 - Escape

"So where did you got this beautiful baby?"

"Inside a treasure chest, though there's nothing there now."

"Oh, right. Is that fan also a weapon? It looks useless." Hiro snuggled into the massive figure of his sword.

Jack flapped his fan, a faint silvery light could be seen from the small crystall embedded on the fan. The dim light from the torch made it appeared more magical. The silver crystal meshed quite well with the white color of the fan, creating an elegant impression upon wielded by Jack.

This also in turn create a strong impulse for bystanders to face slap some young master.

"You looked more and more like a sissy." said Hiro.

Jack clicked his tongue, "How can a brute appreciate an art. This is not an ordinary fan."

"As I thought, is that magic item?"

"Maybe, I guess it can be used as wand, or staff replacement. But it might be useless at the moment."

"Huh, why?"

"I had no magic skill so it can't be helped."

"Great, a useless mage." Hiro shook his head.

"Looked like you doesn't need that sword. come, return it to me."

"Oh, brother Jack, you're going to be the greatest mage of our party. how could you hold a commoner weapon like this. It will dirty you noble hand."

Jack clicked his tongue, "Stop with the nonsense and lick every single tile in this room."

"Roger! leave it to me. I'll be the one to find it this time." Hiro started to examine every crook and cranny of the secret passage, this time he's stamina gauge was overflowing with passion.

Jack shook his head at this, how could there be other treasure on this dump. They're lucky to be able to obtain sword and magic item. Jack doesn't have that big expectation. As long as there's passage lead outside, he will be satisfied.

Suddenly Jack heard something from the cell in front of them.

"Guards! some prisoners tried to escape!" A fellow prisoner from the other cell shouted with all his might.

Jack saw the faint trace of anger and envy on the other man. Seeing this his heart sunk. 

"No good! we're exposed Jack!" Hiro also heard the commotion and started to panic.

"Calm down, we still have a chance." Seeing Jack still act composed, Hiro's panic started to fade. He calmed himself and said, "What should I do?"

"Let's switch, buy me some time." said Jack "I'll search the secret passage."

Hiro nodded, "Okay, leave your back to me."

"Here, don't forget your sword."

"Thanks, I'll tried to stall the enemies as long as possible." Hiro walked out, holding the two-handed sword on his shoulder.

Unlike Hiro, Jack didn't caress every single nook and cranny like a blind man. He took a deep breath and started to examine the objects in the passage. Other than treasure chest where the fan come from, there's unlit torch on the wall. It was quite obvious key puzzle on adventure and fantasy games.

When you lit the torch, a passage will showed itself to the world. He knew the moment he laid his eyes on it. But there's a little problem. He had no tool to lit the torch! So he can't solve the puzzle! This is a game, so he can't bring matches here, and by the chance there might be one in the game, he had no coin to buy some from the store.

But it's not like it was without a hope. There's a source of light in this dark and gloomy prison. It was another torch!

Torches could be seen in the hallway, plastered on the wall every now and then. The torch had small compartment which suggest it could store something, a fuel perhaps. They just had to nab one of them. But there's a problem, they're inside the prison, so the torches on the hallway was out of their grasp.

Looked like he had no choice but to do this risky plan. Jack sighed, this plan is considered as gambling. Depending the guards level, Jack and Hiro might lose their life in the first clash.

"Hiro, Listen to me. I have a plan." Jack told Hiro their situation and what had to be done. Then Jack hid behind the wall next to the cell door. 

It was a close call, as two armed guards attracted by the prisoner's shout arrived at their cell. They appeared to be shocked when they saw Hiro holding a weapon inside a prison. They said something and draw their sword from the sheath, and took a round shield from their back. One of them unlocked the door, and launched themselves against Hiro.

But before they could reach Hiro, the guards stumbled as though someone had pushed them from behind.

"Hiro finish them off!"

Hiro let out a war cry and swiped his great sword wide. After being pushed by Jack, their posture was broken and failed to block the incoming sword. It sliced the neck of the guard, and continue heading to the second guard. But this guard already recovered from the sabotage and managed to raise his shield to block the incoming sword.

Bam!

The guard was sent flying by the impact and rolled a few time on the floor. Jack used this chance to run outside, snatched a torch from the wall, and hurriedly returned to the secret passage. He had no intention to escape from the front door as there will be plenty of guards waiting outside the prison. Only a fools would escape from the the main door.

Jack lit up the torch and the wall suddenly started to rumbled. Dirt come loose and dust soon filled the room.

Seeing this, Jack immediately closed his eyes used his covered his nose with his sleeve. He coughed a few times and took off his clothes. Jack unfurled his starter clothes and used it as a fan. A moment later, dust started to thin and a new passage could faintly be seen. Without hesitation Jack urged Hiro to come inside.

"Got it! But what about you?" Hiro asked.

"I am going to stop them from pursuing us."

"What?! What's the point for sacrificing yourself for me? You won't last even a single hit with that toy of yours."

Jack rolled his eyes, and ignored Hiro's nonsense and instead walk closer to the torch on the wall, "Stand right on the secret passage door, don't let it closed no matter what. Time to use that muscle to good use."

"Huh? What are you-"

Jack retrieved the torch from the wall and open up the small compartment. He quickly took out the magic stone, caused the flame to die out. The passage immediately started to close on him. But because Hiro was standing on the way, it stopped halfway.

Hiro can't help but kneeled down at the massive amount of pressure behind the stone door who come crashing down from above.

"They're here! The prisoners are trying to escape!" Some guards bellowed. But it was no use as Jack quickly slide through the door Hiro manage to hold. By the time the guard arrived at the first secret passage, the second secret passage was already closed and the prisoners can no longer be found.

As they run on the stairs leading deeper into god know where, Jack's mood become gloomy. Not a moment ago he was planning to be a good guy, but a moment later his hands were stained by blood. Even though he was not the one to pull the trigger, he took part in designing the stage. But they had no choice in the matter. It was impossible for him to ask Hiro to sacrifice himself for NPC. Even if by chance he could pursuade Hiro, it won't solve the fundamental problem. What about the next encounter with another npc? Spare them again? Impossible! They're just a noob adventurers, not a veteran. They don't have the capability to show mercy.

So in the end, Jack could only embrace the moment, and convince himself that it was just a game.

"I am sure those guards gonna spawn somewhere in the prison..." Jack whispered.

A few minutes later, the stairs ended. Jack and Hiro scoured the place and found two passages, each leading to different direction.

"What should we do?" Hiro asked.

"I'll choose this one." Jack replied, and walked ahead.

"Wait Jack! What about my torch? Without it, I won't be able to see anything." 

Jack immediately throw one of the torches to him without looking back, and said. "Let us meet again here after you find out where the passage lead."

"Yeah, got it. Be careful Jack." Hiro shouted to the fading shilouet of Jack.

They scoured the passage until the end, and walked back to the meeting place. Both shared what they founf on the end of the passage. On Jack's end he found an exit leading to the slum while Hiro found a secret passage into some kind of library.

When Jack heard the way Hiro described how big and majestic the library was, he immediately erased the intention to escape. Hiro was reluctant to stay here any longer. He has no interest in library which was full of books, just the sight of numerous books made him dizzy. But Jack can't stand to escape without any substantial gain and started to pursuade him.

"This is a big chance for us to find some loot. There might be a grimoire inside the library."

"Huh, Grimoire? what's that?"

"You can also call it skill book, I am sure you're familiar with it."

"Ah, skill books! Will I be able to learn magic?" Hiro asked, rather excited.

"It's possible," Jack then shook his head, "But I don't recommend it."

"Huh? why not? It's not because you want to hog all the magic for yorself right..." Hiro looked at Jack with suspicion.

'Damn, he's unusually sharp,' Jack commented inwardly. Even though he greatly coveted the item, he showed no sign of it outside. He's still calm as ever.

"Did you notice something weird when you kill those guards?"

"Uh, there's nothing weird?"

"Why are you asking me."

"If you count the squimish feeling I had when my blade cutting through the flesh then..." Hiro said, rather hesitant.

Jack can't help but grimaced, he can't really exactly told Hiro that the NPCs might be human and that they shouldn't kill them. Forget about being ridiculed and laughed at, Hiro might consider him a delusional nerd and Chuunibyou. 

"Er, not that kind of feeling. I mean sensation of getting stronger, faster, or better at stuff."

He titled his head, thinking. A moment later, Hiro's eyes lit up, "You mean level up?"

Jack nodded, "Yeah, did you got it?"

"Wait a minute." Hiro started to swing his sword back and forth couple of times, sprinting across the passage while shouting embarrasing warcry that made Jack ticklish. Thankfully, it didn't last long. 

"I don't feel stronger." Hiro slumped his shoulders in disappointment.

Jack smiled, "See, this game might be more realistic and it will be harder to level up our avatar. So we should specialize our character growth in specific class. If you learn magic, your swordmanship might suffer in return and it won't be long before you're outclassed by the other tanks."

"I never said anything about being a tank."

Jack waved his hand."It just an example. In high level party, tank will not be that important."

Hiro nodded his head.

Jack continue to pursuade him, "Our temporary party will be a you as a vanguard tearing apart the opposition and me as a mage raining doom upon enemies. We're a perfect party. That's why leave the Grimoire to me, I'll make good use of it."

Hiro was quickly pursuaded and they went deeper into the library.