CH. 13 Changes And Training
I woke up the next morning and recalled the events of yesterday. Surprisingly I was kind of excited by the prospect of being able to attend more raids. It meant two things, more money, but more importantly more experience. I had already gained all the stats I could from Mana Stones, but abilities weren't out of the question.
I decided to look at my Character sheet and plan my next steps.
Name: Odellin Hundai
Level: 5
Str: 14
Dex: 28
Con: 13
Int: 26
Wis: 17
Cha: 12
HP: 270
MP: 430
STA: 130
(0 unused stat points)
SKILLS:
One-handed - 1
Two-handed - 1
Survival - 4
Evocation - 24
Animal Handling - 15
Ranged - 19
Meditation - 18
Stealth - 2
Mana Manipulation - 16
Necromancy - 1
NON-COMBAT SKILLS:
Cooking - 8
Bartering - 6
Multi-Tasking - 2
SPELLS:
Force Missile
Mana Arrow
Necromantic Healing
Break 2 Rifts, consume 4 more Mana Stones. Level 5 progress Quest.
All stat boosts gained from Mana Stones.
EQUIPMENT:
Goblin Crossbow (Common) 20 DMG. (2)
Bella (Animal Companion, Dire Raccoon)
Level: 5
STR: 24
DEX: 23
CON: 23
INT: 9
WIS: 10
CHA: 8
HP: 470
MP: 190
STA: 230
SKILLS:
Dig - 3
Multi-Attack - 8
Tracking - 10
I smiled as I looked at my progress, heck it was less than a week ago I was still just a regular guy working a steady job, making Pizzas. 'What would it be like in a month?' I shuddered with excitement at the thought.
I heard Claire calling out to Junior as I got out of bed. Doing my morning routine of taking care of Bella's siblings earned me another ding '4 more levels to go my little furry army' I chuckled at myself.
Lynette woke up just as I set down my two furry pets and smiled at me. "Good morning my love." I said leaning over to kiss her. She pulled me in with surprising strength and I laughed as we kissed. Just as we were about to try and fool around my son opened the door 'damn'.
He ran up to the bed and over to the other side where his tablet was plugged in. We kept it charing in our room at night so he wouldn't bring it with him to bed.
He turned it on and quickly pulled up his games. Now when I say games I mean his learning games. We had a subscription to a new learning program we bought for him. It was awesome to say the least. He was learning numbers, shapes, colors and how to spell and say certain words.
The second he had his game on he ran out of the room just as Claire caught up to him. "You little rascal. I told you to leave your parents alone." She smiled at us and mouthed 'sorry' before closing the door.
We both laughed as Lynette pushed me off of her. "Alright time to get up honey. What's the plan for today?"
I thought about it for a moment and nodded to myself as I said "It's time I started actually training. I have just been doing this all by instinct and reaction. I need to actually get better at what I'm doing so I won't be bumbling around like a man in a cave without a torch."
She nodded at that "Are you bringing Claire with you?" I nodded "I need to take her to the Association to get her fully registered. After that I was thinking about taking Will up on his training."
She chuckled and got dressed in her favorite pair of black leggings and a loose fitting tank top, brushing her hair before walking out of the room. I got dressed as well, putting on some camo shorts and a blue t-shirt before walking out of the room.
I saw my little girl standing in front of the couch and holding two pancakes, one in each hand, making a complete mess with the little bit of syrup that Claire had put on them. Junior had one on a plate in front of him as he learned to spell the word 'jungle'.
Lynette grabbed a rag and walked over to the table to wipe up the mess Patricia was making. Lynette was cleaning the mess while she ate and smiled at me "Alright you two, have fun and be careful. Oh and honey I was wondering if we could get that foot soaker I wanted?"
I nodded "Sure, I need to buy a new set of Crossbows anyways. Do me a favor, total up the bills and let me know how much we have after the bills and groceries for the month." she nodded and waved the rag at me. I grabbed Claire and we headed out, Bella seeming to appear out of thin air as she leapt through the door.
When we got to the car Claire asked "So where are we going Mr. Hundai?" I chuckled "It's alright if you call me Odellin or Ode. I don't mind, you're family now." Claire smiled and I could see a misting to her eyes.
I decided to answer her question so there wouldn't be any awkwardness. "First stop is the Association to get you fully registered. You have a temp badge, so we will need you to be processed. Second stop is the hunting store. I wanna get some better Crossbows. I love my Goblin ones, but they won't do for long term. Also I need crossbow ammunition and we need to get you another quiver of arrows as well as replacement arrows for the four that broke." I said listing off the things I wanted to do.
"Then after that I am hoping to get some training in so I can look like I know what I'm doing." She grinned at that and got in the car.
The registration process took less than thirty minutes and then we were off to the hunting goods store. Claire was in love with her badge. She was still holding it like it was gold when we entered the store. I made my way to the section with bows and crossbows and began examining them in detail.
There was one that caught my eye and I grinned at the way it looked like a pistol, but the slide and top half of it was a crossbow. It was perfect.
Rift-Line Compound Hand Crossbow (Uncommon) 35 DMG
The Rift-Line Compound Hand Crossbow is the first in a premier line of Weaponry designed for Rift Breakers. The sleek design allows for reloading with ease.
I remembered reading that Rift-Line was becoming one of the front runners in the weaponry and armor departments of Rift Breaking. Half the equipment sold to Rift Breakers level 10 and up was sold by Rift-Line.
It was 300 dollars for each, so I grabbed two, grabbing two extra quivers of bolts and a new holster for the quivers, as well as another quiver of arrows for Claire and replacement arrows for her. All in all it was going to cost almost 1,000 dollars.
Claire looked at the cost and her eyes widened. I just smiled and paid, seeing the same older gentleman who had sold me her bow. He grinned at me, then Claire "So who is this lovely young lady?"
I smiled "My niece Claire. She became a Breaker as well, so we are restocking and going to get in some training before we are called up to Break another Rift." he chuckled and handed her a pad of paper, the same one that had my autograph on another sheet.
She giggled and gave her autograph as well and he wished us luck as we headed out. "He is an interesting guy isn't he?" she asked. I nodded "Yeah, I wonder just how many autographs he has."
Once we loaded our supplies into the car I called up Will. "Hey bud, how's it going?" he asked as he answered the phone. "It's good, I was thinking since you're back in town that maybe we could get together and you could help Claire and I train up a bit?"
He was muffled for a moment before I heard a door shut and keys rattle through the phone "Sure bud, meet me by the bike path by the bridge on @#$;! street.", "You got it bud. See ya there."
I could tell Claire was looking at her Character Sheet as we drove, she had that glazed over look in her eyes. It took almost twenty minutes to get to the bike path.
We pulled up and strapped on our gear, I left the Goblin Crossbows in the car as I pulled out my two new ones. I looked ridiculous with two extra reload quivers for each crossbow strapped on. I didn't care though, I liked it.
Will pulled up a few minutes later and the second he got out of the car and looked at me he started laughing. "Dude, you look hilarious. I mean I get it, but just wow." Claire joined in and finally I did as well.
After we got the laugh out he took us down the bike path. About half a mile in we took a turn into the wooded area. We had a lot of wooded areas around where we lived.
Another twenty minutes of walking and we finally came to a small clearing. Will took out his Glock and I pulled out my crossbows, Claire pulling her bow off her shoulder.
"Alright so you both are pretty good at shooting. Claire is better, no offense Ode, but she is. However what we need to do is to refine your techniques. Odellin, you've been relying on your Mana Arrows this entire time, but your crossbow bolts are useful as well. What you need to do is to get used to how they fire and aim as their drag will eventually drop them at a distance.
Mana Arrows don't have drag, so they fly straight forever, that doesn't happen with normal ammunition."
Eight hours of firing, reloading and firing again and I could definitely feel the strain of the training. I could tell that my aim was getting better and better as we did this. I noticed that as Will showed me different techniques and I put them into action, it didn't give me any more Ranged skill levels, but it did give me a better understanding of what I was doing.
Claire only took two hours of the training and used the other six to work with her new Force Missile spell and Meditation Skill.
We did this for another four days, taking longer each day so we could get used to how to do things. I had become, in that time, pretty proficient with the Crossbows. I got to the point that I could use them both at the same time with regular ammo and not have an issue. We had to replace 15 arrows and 20 crossbow bolts in that time.
We both got ready to head out on the sixth day when both Claire and I got a call on our phones at the same time. Lynette giggled as we both answered our phones.
"Mr. Hundai?" came a familiar voice "Tell me where to go Tom." I said and he chuckled through the phone and gave me the address.
Claire ended her call a minute later and I asked her where they wanted to send her. She told me and I smiled, she would be going with me.
"Just be careful honey." Lynette said as I leaned in to kiss her. She gave me a brief hug, then shot up and ran over to grab Patricia just as she was jumping off the coffee table.
We drove the thirty minutes to the Rift, it was surprisingly in the middle of one of the intersections by the Town Hall.
There was a reporter on the scene just as we were walking up. She turned towards us and her eyes lit up. Her long black hair flew in the wind like she was swimming as she ran up to us. "Here we have two more Rift Breakers coming onto the scene. Tell me, how does it feel doing what you guys do?"
I shrugged my shoulders as she put the mic up to my mouth, Claire just smiled "Don't mind my uncle, he's just shy. We are both new to Rift Breaking to be honest and it's both scary and exciting." She said as she pulled the mic to her.
The reporter smiled then put the mic back in front of me "Aren't you worried about putting your niece in danger like this?" I rolled my eyes and replied "Bella keeps her safe." The reporter looked at me curiously, then the camera man let out a squeal of surprise and fear.
I smiled as Bella ran up to Claire and I, the reporter losing her composure for a second, giving us time to get behind the police barricade and away from her.
"You are so bad at that. You need to play it up for the people at home watching *uncle*" she said, emphasising the word uncle.
I chuckled, "Look I'm not some mighty General leading an army, nor am I a career politician. Heck less than two weeks ago I was a guy living paycheck to paycheck making pizzas. I do what I am good at. Apparently that includes breaking Rifts. It doesn't include talking to reporters."
Claire smiled and looped her arm in mine as we walked up to the Rift. I felt something strange come over me as I looked at the Rift, I couldn't tell what it was, but there was definitely something different.
Looking around I could see 8 other Breakers all gathered together and sitting on fold out chairs near a tent. As we approached Agent Smith came up and nodded "I was told to expect you two." he said shaking our hands.
I smiled at him, then pointed to the rift, "So what level reading is it giving off?" he turned towards the rest of the Breakers, none of whom I recognized as he responded "It's giving off a level 7 reading. We were able to determine it is Goblins."
I chuckled "What is it with me and all these Goblin Rifts. I swear I feel like a Goblin Slayer."
Claire laughed at my reference, but Smith didn't. We got to the group and I could see that only 3 of them looked about as new as Claire and I. We all exchanged greetings as they got themselves ready.
The Raid leader, a man named Mario, was a taller man, with a very wide build. He wore what looked like a set of riot gear that police wore, including what looked like an actual riot shield. He smiled as I scanned his gear "I used to be SWAT for years before becoming a Breaker 7 months ago. I bought the gear from my Captain, figuring I might as well use what I was used to."
He patted his hip where a night stick sat, it had been modified with a tip that extended it's reach another foot with a dagger like blade. I was impressed to say the least.
Mario turned to us and gave us our positions, Claire, a Healer and I were in the back, five were melee DPS and Mario and another man were the Tanks.
We all walked up to the Rift and as I was the last one to step foot in the Rift, I saw a change come over the gate. It flashed red, then gold and finally settled back on black before I got sucked in. 'Fuck' was all that went through my mind.