Grant stood back a moment to judge the creature. He turned toward Theina and said, "Well, you've got my strategy guide, but I don't think this thing's in it."
"You distract it while I check," Theina said. Her character had stopped moving.
Grant stepped in front of the creature. I looked menacingly at Grant, then at Theina. It started moving toward Theina, stepping over Grant without hesitation. "Um, Theina..."
"I see it," she said. The woman playing Theina flipped through the bestiary of the strategy guide and found a similar creature, but nothing that looked exactly like this.
"Aw, man. 'Mumyn Lei!'" No effect. "'Suvi Lei!'" No effect. "'Dek Do!'" This time, the creature slowed. Not enough to not be a threat, but enough to where Theina could outrun it.
"How'd you cast those three spells with what you've got? I looked at your items. Only 'Dek Do' comes on any of your items."
"The 'Clown's Charade' is a nifty item. So nifty, I had to copy it and mask it as another item, one that I gave to you to give to me."
"But that's cheating!"
"Yeah? I'll be the kettle if you're the pot," he shot back.
She winced behind her headset. "That's cold, Grant."
"Yeah, well just think of that next time ya try to call me on it again. In fact, I'll even give ya a copy once we're done with this monster."
"'Dek Juka!' 'Juk Kruz!'" She cast as quickly as possible. Her attack was more effective than she could have hoped for. It put a stop to the monster's motion. She followed up with a second "Juk Kruz", which only started the beast up again, and this time seemed to heal it just as much as the previous had damaged it.
"Is this a beta-test monster?" Grant fell into step with "Twin Dragons", and then he followed by a "Vak Don". The first hit and hurt, the second healed.
"Well, if that doesn't just beat all? He's got more HP in him than damage I could do with the other for elements in succsession." Theina decided to run. Grant was behind her. For the moment, battle mode went off.
Grant shoved his hands at her. "Here. The 'Clown's Charade' ought to assist. It's disguised as a simple piece of hand armor, but it'll respond to whatever spells you cast verbally."
"No. I'm not going that far. I'd rather not be in the competition than use that cheat."
"It's not a cheat," Grant lied, "It's been a part of the armor system since almost the beginning, but CC. went ahead and created new armors and forgot about it. I just revived the code, with the help of a friend. It's just a lost part of the system, Theina. It's perfectly legal to use."
Battle mode switched back on before Grant could convince Theina to take the armor. "'Rue Rom!'" she called, and then, "'Gan Zot!'", "'Ani Don!'", and then, "'Rai Kruz!'" before stopping.
"Damn it, Theina, you wasted all your elements! How're we supposed to beat this thing now?"
Theina shrugged. "Well, let's try something else. 'Juk Kruz!'" The magic hit, the monster swayed, and, after an infinity within a second, damage registered. "'Vak Rom!'" she called out, and the monster was damaged again.
"I see," Grant said, and followed her lead with a "'Rue Rom!'" of his own. They finished off the creature back at Wood.
"Let's go," Theina yelled. "We wasted two and a half minutes here!" Grant followed East.
*--**--**--**--**--*
It had appeared to be a Gott Statue, but it was really a pair of monsters. One was a treasure chest mimic, the other was a round-shaped flying creature with a ring of light encircling it. The quarters were extremely tight. Still, Grant managed to subdue the larger creature with "'Orchid Dance!'" while Theina cast "'Vak Rom!'" until the box was defeated. They flew out of the Southern door, the one they'd come in. Neither took the time to notice the treasure chest that had appeared with three Artisan's Souls.
*--**--**--**--**--*
The next floor was completely still. It seemed a black void with white doors at the ends of the rooms. The portals on the fifth floor yielded not monsters but treasure chests that held nearly useless items. Low-level scrolls and armors - each suitable for use by a Wavemaster - which she would sell or trade later.
*--**--**--**--**--*
The sixth floor yielded nothing but a near endless storm of monsters, each of which took relatively less time to defeat than before, only because they knew how now. Fiften minutes had gone by. Theina was about to waste another when she got to the stairs that lead to the seventh floor.
"Grant, are you a hacker?"
"Me? A hacker? If I am, I'm the worst one of the bunch. I don't have an obscenely edited character, and these monsters can hit and kill my character. I mean, I use the 'Clown's Charade' but I didn't make it. I just dug it up from the game's base code."
"You're not that good at programming."
"Yeah, yeah. So what? If I stumbled across it, that doesn't make it not there just because I'm an amatuer."
"It's still cheating, Umori!" Theina's voice called across the connection.
The character Grant stood stock still for a moment. Then his slow reply came. "So what?"
"God. You suck. I'll keep going by myself."
"You're a cheater too now. If you shrug me off now, I'll go back to the field and tell that Administrator everything that happened in here."
"So?"
"You could be kicked out of 'The World' permenantly if they hear that you convinced someone to fight with you in this dungeon."
The player took off her headset. She stared closely at her monitor at the image of Grant standing in front of her.
"I can hear the other students now. 'Cheater, cheater'. You know they play too. Almost everyone nowadays at the University does. I even hear professors brag about it to their students when they're not in class. You'll be branded a cheater in and out of the game. Nobody will trust you. Your professors will have to go through every piece of homework you hand in just to see that you're cheating."
"Bite me," she whispered before she put her headset back on. "Fine. Let's go."
"One Sprite Ocarina to the surface then." Grant raised his polygonal hands.
"No. Down," she said defeatedly. And so down they went.
Twelve minutes left.
"You distract it while I check," Theina said. Her character had stopped moving.
Grant stepped in front of the creature. I looked menacingly at Grant, then at Theina. It started moving toward Theina, stepping over Grant without hesitation. "Um, Theina..."
"I see it," she said. The woman playing Theina flipped through the bestiary of the strategy guide and found a similar creature, but nothing that looked exactly like this.
"Aw, man. 'Mumyn Lei!'" No effect. "'Suvi Lei!'" No effect. "'Dek Do!'" This time, the creature slowed. Not enough to not be a threat, but enough to where Theina could outrun it.
"How'd you cast those three spells with what you've got? I looked at your items. Only 'Dek Do' comes on any of your items."
"The 'Clown's Charade' is a nifty item. So nifty, I had to copy it and mask it as another item, one that I gave to you to give to me."
"But that's cheating!"
"Yeah? I'll be the kettle if you're the pot," he shot back.
She winced behind her headset. "That's cold, Grant."
"Yeah, well just think of that next time ya try to call me on it again. In fact, I'll even give ya a copy once we're done with this monster."
"'Dek Juka!' 'Juk Kruz!'" She cast as quickly as possible. Her attack was more effective than she could have hoped for. It put a stop to the monster's motion. She followed up with a second "Juk Kruz", which only started the beast up again, and this time seemed to heal it just as much as the previous had damaged it.
"Is this a beta-test monster?" Grant fell into step with "Twin Dragons", and then he followed by a "Vak Don". The first hit and hurt, the second healed.
"Well, if that doesn't just beat all? He's got more HP in him than damage I could do with the other for elements in succsession." Theina decided to run. Grant was behind her. For the moment, battle mode went off.
Grant shoved his hands at her. "Here. The 'Clown's Charade' ought to assist. It's disguised as a simple piece of hand armor, but it'll respond to whatever spells you cast verbally."
"No. I'm not going that far. I'd rather not be in the competition than use that cheat."
"It's not a cheat," Grant lied, "It's been a part of the armor system since almost the beginning, but CC. went ahead and created new armors and forgot about it. I just revived the code, with the help of a friend. It's just a lost part of the system, Theina. It's perfectly legal to use."
Battle mode switched back on before Grant could convince Theina to take the armor. "'Rue Rom!'" she called, and then, "'Gan Zot!'", "'Ani Don!'", and then, "'Rai Kruz!'" before stopping.
"Damn it, Theina, you wasted all your elements! How're we supposed to beat this thing now?"
Theina shrugged. "Well, let's try something else. 'Juk Kruz!'" The magic hit, the monster swayed, and, after an infinity within a second, damage registered. "'Vak Rom!'" she called out, and the monster was damaged again.
"I see," Grant said, and followed her lead with a "'Rue Rom!'" of his own. They finished off the creature back at Wood.
"Let's go," Theina yelled. "We wasted two and a half minutes here!" Grant followed East.
*--**--**--**--**--*
It had appeared to be a Gott Statue, but it was really a pair of monsters. One was a treasure chest mimic, the other was a round-shaped flying creature with a ring of light encircling it. The quarters were extremely tight. Still, Grant managed to subdue the larger creature with "'Orchid Dance!'" while Theina cast "'Vak Rom!'" until the box was defeated. They flew out of the Southern door, the one they'd come in. Neither took the time to notice the treasure chest that had appeared with three Artisan's Souls.
*--**--**--**--**--*
The next floor was completely still. It seemed a black void with white doors at the ends of the rooms. The portals on the fifth floor yielded not monsters but treasure chests that held nearly useless items. Low-level scrolls and armors - each suitable for use by a Wavemaster - which she would sell or trade later.
*--**--**--**--**--*
The sixth floor yielded nothing but a near endless storm of monsters, each of which took relatively less time to defeat than before, only because they knew how now. Fiften minutes had gone by. Theina was about to waste another when she got to the stairs that lead to the seventh floor.
"Grant, are you a hacker?"
"Me? A hacker? If I am, I'm the worst one of the bunch. I don't have an obscenely edited character, and these monsters can hit and kill my character. I mean, I use the 'Clown's Charade' but I didn't make it. I just dug it up from the game's base code."
"You're not that good at programming."
"Yeah, yeah. So what? If I stumbled across it, that doesn't make it not there just because I'm an amatuer."
"It's still cheating, Umori!" Theina's voice called across the connection.
The character Grant stood stock still for a moment. Then his slow reply came. "So what?"
"God. You suck. I'll keep going by myself."
"You're a cheater too now. If you shrug me off now, I'll go back to the field and tell that Administrator everything that happened in here."
"So?"
"You could be kicked out of 'The World' permenantly if they hear that you convinced someone to fight with you in this dungeon."
The player took off her headset. She stared closely at her monitor at the image of Grant standing in front of her.
"I can hear the other students now. 'Cheater, cheater'. You know they play too. Almost everyone nowadays at the University does. I even hear professors brag about it to their students when they're not in class. You'll be branded a cheater in and out of the game. Nobody will trust you. Your professors will have to go through every piece of homework you hand in just to see that you're cheating."
"Bite me," she whispered before she put her headset back on. "Fine. Let's go."
"One Sprite Ocarina to the surface then." Grant raised his polygonal hands.
"No. Down," she said defeatedly. And so down they went.
Twelve minutes left.