Tutorial 2.5

I don't think Taylor appreciated my smartass comment about her being intimidating. But she just takes a moment before replying, "James, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come down on you so hard. I was just stuck out here, listening to that. You could have been seriously injured or even killed in there, and I would have had no way to reach you. Just never leave me out again, okay?"

Fuck. She's right. "Yeah, my bad. No more stupid risky solo battles." It'd be too much to assume I've got spare lives hidden in my power somewhere.

"So... Yeah." She looked down, then back up and smiled awkwardly. "Let's go kick some zombie butt! Open up another barrier for both of us!"

Despite that little moment Taylor still seems somewhat upset. Thankfully, she's quite adept at taking out her anger on zombies after I open a new [Illusion Barrier]. I'm not sure if she's intentionally grinding [Rising Strike], or if she's multitasking and much more upset than I thought, but a suspicious number of male zombies take bat blows a bit lower than optimal for a lifting blow. On top of that wince-worthy bit of ruthlessness, every single corpse has a modest damage over time, or DoT, effect on them as she orders their own maggots to eat them from the inside out. So glad she's not targeting me. And we're sharing XP evenly, even if she's getting most of the killing blows. It only takes half an hour or so for me to level up twice. Not to mention the skill and stat alert indicators stacking up in the corner of my vision. The only upside to low stats is how easy it is to level them at first. Even with Taylor entangling some of them in the nets that used to be her skirts, the downside is literally crouching behind Taylor to catch my breath while she launches away all approaching undead for a few minutes. It helps that when I level I don't just get a sudden boost to HP and MP, but also get a sudden wave of energy, wiping away my fatigue.

As soon as there is a lull in combat all the updates swarm my face. A few skill upgrades, a few stats too. And I finally got [Dodge]. Thankfully, [Gamer's Body] seems to be staving off muscle fatigue, so I'm back up fairly quickly. Taylor's finally slowing down. Crazy VIT or not, swinging a bat for this long has to be tiring work for her too. Another [Finishing Blow], almost slow enough for the prone zombie in scuba gear to roll away from, finishes the last of the zombies right by us.

I guess now's as good a time as any, and I need a break to heal. "[ID Esca-] Crap. Loot." Taylor is clearly distracted by her own alert windows. I hope she got something good. If she hadn't thinned the herd a lot, and seriously weakened all the zombies still in range I wouldn't even try this. But I guess it's my turn to hold them off if I don't want to abandon our earnings. And I think I see another rib dropped over there. I want my pauldron, okay? It's bad enough I left one earlier…

It brings my health down more than I like, and dries up my stores of MP, but I hold off until Taylor rejoins the fray. And suddenly she's two shotting them half the time. Even with the calls of "[Power Strike]", guess she just unlocked that, she's doing too much damage. Did she level and spend points on STR or something? A lot more zombies are making it to me now, almost like she's letting them get past. At least it only takes one hit to… oh… I wonder why she's feeding me kills?

Another half hour, another level, and another break later I find out how she did it. And why she's been letting me finish off most of our foes.

[Apprentice Undead Hunter]

[Obtained by killing any 50 undead.]

[You have a special talent and interest in exterminating the undead!]

[Become an Undead Hunter and eradicate the undead!]

[30% increase in attack damage against the undead.]

[30% increase in defense versus the undead.]

[All stats plus 5 while facing the undead.]

Yeah, that'd do it. I equip it immediately and jump back to it. ...holy shit, 30% is huge! I'm getting in the occasion three-hit kill now. ...and I seem to be getting my dumb ass surrounded less often. How the fuck did I survive this long with my WIS so low?! And it'll drop back as soon as I'm not facing undead. I still don't want to spend points on a stat when it should be easy to grind at this time, but I'm not leaving my WIS so low for such a petty reason.

[A sagacious decision causes your WIS to go up by 2.]

...that probably means my power agrees. A lot. It also suddenly makes sense to gather loot between waves of enemies, instead of waiting for the last minute to scramble to grab what few pieces I can get.

You know your life is getting surreal when fighting zombies gets boring. But few things are fun for almost four hours straight. Even breaking my trusty pink bat over the tin pail one zombie had on its head just means I switch to [Brawling]. Back to four or more hits per kill, but the visceral satisfaction is enough to make things interesting again for a few minutes.

Taylor casts her skirt-nets at the nearest zombies and turns to me. "Here, take it." She's offering me her bat. "You need it more than me."

"I'm fine. I can…" There's no need to be stubborn, just find a different solution. "Fuck it, you still got that knife?" A half-foot blade beats the heck out of going in unarmed. She quickly hands me the knife just before we get swarmed again.

Leveling for a fourth time leaves me physically restored, but mentally I need a break. I'm pretty much done with this for the day. Night soon enough. And I didn't pack us supper.

Fortunately, as the sun grazes the top of the city to our west, Taylor comes to a sudden stop. "That's level 14 for me. Let's call it a day."

My hand is in the air before she even finishes her sentence. "[ID Escape]" I'm not sure if it's the sunset, or just how long we were in there for, but the sky shattering yet again is unspeakably gorgeous. Shards of impossibly clear crystal fall through the pink and orange evening air, refracting beautifully.

"[Status Screen] Let's see… [+1 STR], [+1 AGI], [+3 Dodge], [+4 Blunt Weapon Mastery], [+3 Rising Strike], [+2 Combat Mapping], [+2 Entangle], and [+2 Finishing Blow]." Taylor isn't even looking at the sky. She's missing something amazing. "I've got [Power Strike] now, it's already level 2, and [Light Armor Mastery], which is at 3. And [Apprentice Undead Hunter], but I guess you got that too?"

"Yeah, and let me say, an extra 5 points of WIS really shows off how much I need to get more. Did I really stab myself with a plastic fork in the middle of Fugly Bob's?"

Taylor snickers. "Yes. Yes, you did." She hastily refocuses the conversation. "Not bad for an afternoon's work. What else did you get?"

"Let's see… [Status Screen] [+3 STR], [+1 AGI], [+1 VIT], [+2 WIS], [+3 Power Strike], [+2 Dodge], [+2 Physical Resistance], [+1 Brawling], [+2 Knife Mastery], [+3 Blunt Weapon Mastery], [+1 Sense Danger] and that title. And I'm level 8 now. Holy crap, my HP and MP nearly doubled…"

Okay, now I'm the one distracted from the sunset. With my very lifeforce strictly quantified, seeing that number nearly double has me almost numb with glee. Not gonna die from a papercut no more. And it looks like my regeneration is a little faster now. Looks like it takes about 4 and a half seconds per HP recovered. So it should take about… 40 minutes to fully recover from almost dead.

"Have you noticed how much faster our skills go up in combat?" Taylor asks, placing her bat reverently into her bag. "I know we were in there for hours, but we didn't improve half as fast just training."

Maybe it's my improved WIS score, but she's right. "Some games do that. More experience when you actually do something. Like hitting an enemy versus hitting a target." Too bad some of our skills aren't well-suited to practicing in combat. [Stealth] should be awesome at higher levels, but the zombie horde isn't going to let up enough for us to try sneaking up on them.

Packing up is quick and easy with an inventory, and I don't even have to struggle with backpack straps. Taylor has it worse, but it only takes her a moment to duck out of sight and change back to her civvies. We exit the Ship's Graveyard and head inland in a comfortable silence, both flipping through our various screens, exploring the changes one day had wrought. Looks like I've got 23 [Soul Shards], 11 [Teeth of the Dead], 3 [Ribs of the Dead], and one [Skin of the Dead] total. I should be able to make an [Undead Pauldron] now.

I'm not putting any thought into making sure Taylor gets home… well, 'safe' is an over-statement. She can certainly take care of herself, but she still doesn't need to be hassled.

Oh, hey, this is the way to my house! "I live this way too," I comment, feeling the need to share.

Taylor nods, "Well, we did go to the same elementary. We can't live that far apart."

"I'll pack supper as well tomorrow. Better to have it just in case." While I'm thinking ahead, I wonder if I can get more WIS by… "It's dark out. I should be wearing white for safety. My costume shouldn't show any skin, as extra identity protection. We should try to learn each other's skills. I should get a cellphone. We should try and get a first aid skill. I should find a replacement weapon since my bat broke, and I can't borrow your knife all the time. I should get a sturdier weapon, so it doesn't break again." No good. "Hmph."

"What's wrong?" Taylor has apparently been listening the whole time, staring at me bemusedly.

"I was trying to grind WIS by having good ideas." And that had seemed like such a good idea. "None of them counted."

"Well, you did have a point about the costume. I can give you a spare ski mask I had my spiders weave," she offers, "but if you're trying to hide skin, don't forget around your eyes. Goggles or wrap-around sunglasses can hold you over until you find something better. Have you put any thought into your name yet?"

I haven't really, but I'm quick on my feet. "Nothing solid yet, but since we're working together it should match or compliment your theme. Something with insects and nobility or knighthood. But not 'Sir Bugsalot'."

"Please don't get too attached to any name before you run it past me, okay? It took me a few months to pick one I didn't hate the next day." She dips her head a little. "I can't believe I almost called myself Buzz. And planned on wearing bright yellow with black stripes. Go ahead and make something for now, get an idea for what works for you. Later, I can introduce you to Parian. She did most of the design work on my costume."

"Parian? Really?" I'm not big on fashion, what the rogue cape does is more like art in a fabric medium. And by all rumors, she does it all without compromising wearability. "No wonder. And thanks. Really."

Taylor tilts her head up and adopts a faux-snotty tone. "I am the Lady Bug. I can't have my partner running around in sweats and hockey mask, now can I?"

I chuckle out an agreement. "Fair enough."

"On the subject of preparations, we need a cover story. I'm not ready to tell Dad I've got powers, let alone that I'm fighting zombies with them."

"Oh, bugger." I don't want to tell anyone in my family for as long as possible. Mom's… not particularly accepting of Parahumans. Half the time she talks about capes like they're reckless, exhibitionistic adrenaline junkies. The other half it's more 'burn the witch'. While I'm sure Pa'd have some great advice, he's a pushover who'd let Mom know in a matter of days. Rene doesn't need the extra stress while she's pursuing a dual major in foreign languages and parahuman psychology. I think she's interested in the rumored International Protectorate Initiative. And less said about what Andy would do with the knowledge I have powers, the better. Maybe after I've made contact with the Wards.

Taylor's comment about zombies gives me an idea though… "Why don't you tell your dad we're playing Dungeons and Dragons?" It wouldn't work for me, D&D is just another thing Mom can't stand. "If you ever slip up and mention undead or controlling bugs or anything you can just say it's from the game."

[A good idea causes your WIS to go up by 1.]

Taylor doesn't look convinced yet. "My power approves. I got my tenth point in wisdom for that one."

"Well, it's better than not having a plan." There's a minute of less comfortable silence before Taylor gestures at a well-worn house a few drives down. "So that's my house over there. My father is already inside. I appreciate you walking me home, but I'd rather not introduce you to my father right now. Strange boy, teenaged daughter..."

"Hey! It's not like that. I mean, I'm certainly strange, but…" Aaand now I probably sound like an asshole. "Not that you're not-"

"Stop now. Before you put your foot in your mouth. I know you're not, but I haven't had friends in so long. New strange boy, he'll jump to conclusions. Let me bring you up in conversation first, make my father aware you exist first."

Thank you for stopping me. "Right. That's a good idea."

There's a brief pause. "So… tomorrow, same time, same place?" Taylor offers.

A familiar quest window pops up, but I carefully ignore it. If her dad is looking, he doesn't need to see some unfamiliar man jabbing a finger towards his little girl. There's only one proper response, though. "It's a quest."

"Right." She doesn't seem to find it funny. "See-ya."

I jog off, mostly because leaving slowly feels like sticking around, and sticking around is just awkward. I'm actually only a few streets from my place. It's surprising to find out we've lived so close for years, but barely know each other. I don't have time to think about it though, as I'm already home.

With Rene home for the weekend, the family seems to be all in the living room watching a movie. Good, that should distract them. I don't need to be dodging everyone as I gather materials for my costume. I pull up the quest alert I've had shelved all day.

[New Quest Alert: My First Costume]

[Pick your parahuman code name and construct a costume to match by tomorrow morning.]

[Goal time: 10 AM Sunday]

[Reward: 500 XP and a matching piece of equipment]

[Failure: Increased chance of being outed as a parahuman]

I figure I'll start by putting together the best costume I can with what I've got on hand, and think of names while I'm at it. I'll want my outfit to be as dark as possible, so I start by digging black clothes out of my dresser and closet. Okay, black jeans are good. Dark grey velcro sneakers are my best option for shoes. For now at least. Knit winter gloves will have to do. ...I don't have any long-sleeved black shirts, and I have no intention of leaving even my arms exposed in costume. What to do? I pull a too-large navy turtle out and size it up. My arms have always been a bit long, so this otherwise oversized shirt has the perfect size sleeves. I can just rip the seams and switch the sleeves. It won't be pretty, but it's just a starter costume. I can clean it up later.

"Dumbass, what are you doing?"