Chapter 10: Stereotypical (3)

Lev’s plan was a simple one.

They’d open the door, momentarily stunning the goblins with light.  These nocturnal creatures were extremely susceptible to abrupt changes in brightness and it was this weakness that they’d exploit.  Using this chance, Irina and Jain would kill the necessary number of goblins to hit level 5.

Then depending on what new abilities their [Class] brought about, they would revise a plan to get out of this place.

Apparently, this was the method that Lev and Natalia used to hit level 5.

“I just noticed,”  Jain asked, “It’s dark in here.  Where did that light come from?”

As far as he knew, all the power was out across the city.  Apparently, the museum didn’t have backup generators.  His eyes had gotten used to the darkness and the moon’s light provided small vision inside the stuffy storage room.  But there was no explanation for the amount that shone through the doorway initially.

“Lev has a [Light] spell.”  Natalia answered easily.

Lev shot her an annoyed look but didn’t say anything more.

Jain swallowed the lump in his throat, his curiosity getting the better of him.  “So what classes do you guys have?”

“Gunner.”  Natalia said easily.

“Natalia!”

“Keep your voice down.”  Natalia smiled at her youngest brother, “Besides, all the classes are in the [Help] section of your character screen.  I’m sure he can deduce from there.”

“There are hundreds of them!”  Lev argued back.  “No one’s going to take time to look through them.”

Natalia shrugged.

“Wait, wait.”  Jain held a hand up to his hand.  “Hundreds of classes?”

“Hundreds of beginner-level classes,”  Lev answered, his handsome face turning back to Jain’s.  “But that’s about all the information the [Help] section offers.  The first level requirement and all the classes available to people.”

There was a clue here, Jain thought.  The words that Lev used were very specific.  Especially the use of ‘Beginner-level’ and ‘first level requirement’.  Lev probably didn’t mean to phrase it that way, but had done so.

‘Because that’s not the end.’  Jain realized.

Whatever this ‘Class’ provided, it was just the beginning.  Actually, Jain was willing to bet that this ‘race change’ that Lev hinted to at level ten was just the beginning too.  Which meant that until level ten, the time spent getting there could be compared to the tutorial level of a videogame.

“Unfortunately, there are no information on what’s possible.”  Lev finished wistfully.

Jain studied Lev.  He hadn’t even asked about the races but the youngest Kristoff offered the last bit freely.  Judging by Lev’s previous actions, he was definitely somewhat guarded against Jain.  But it seemed like the gaming-nerd couldn’t help but spout off extra information regarding the ‘system’ aspect of their newfound lives.

‘Good to know.’  Jain pocketed the information for later.

“How long?”  Irina blurted out.

“She’s asking how long it took us.”  Natalia smiled at Jain’s confused look.  

It was still a wonder why Irina had that thick accent but her siblings didn’t.

“Half an hour.  Maybe less.  But Natalia and I have a way to attack them from a distance.  Do you two?...”  Lev trailed off, stating the obvious.

Irina lifted her sword as an answer.

“And you?”  Lev peered at him sideways.  “What do you have?”

Jain spread his arms, wiggling his fingers.  “Uh… Magic?”  He suggested.

Lev frowned, looking to Irina instead.  She simply shrugged.

“Jain will manage.”

“Oh, Lev.”  Natalia got to her feet, dusting off her knees and her oversized sun hat.  “You worry too much.  I know you want to be careful, but I’m getting tired of this place.  Besides…”  The oldest Kristoff looked out the window.  “Papa is waiting.”

Jain blanched.  He’d never actually met anyone who referred to their dad as ‘papa’ before.  Anyone past the age of five anyways.  But if the moniker bothered Irina or Lev, they didn’t show it.

“Fine.”  Lev closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose.  Most likely a habit of his when annoyed.  “What are your levels?”

“Four.”  Irina spread the equal number of fingers with one hand.

“Two.”  Jain said automatically.  He ignored the alarm bells ringing in his head, for now.

“Nyet,” The cool beauty shook her head.  “The quest, Templar.”

“Told you not to call me that.”  But even while saying that, Jain was already looking at his character screen.  There was a new tab on it, flashing yellow.

He stopped for a second, noting how easy it was to bring it up, like it had been second nature.  He tucked the thought away for later. 

Name: Jain Templar

Race: Human (Base)

Level: 3

—

• Stats

• Abilities

• Help

• Quest (New!)

“You two had a Quest?”  Lev blurted out.  “How?”

“To rescue you two.”

“And you shared it with him?”

“Nyet, automatic.”  

Lev started asking this and that.  How the quest was shared, what the reward was.  Jain casually tuned them out, checking his stats and abilities.

No changes.

‘I leveled up but no stat points or ability points.  How does this System thing work?’ 

“Even I haven’t gotten a quest yet.”  Lev muttered, “Unless Natalia…?”

“Unfortunately not, dear brother.”  Natalia answered kindly.  “I would’ve told you.”

Jain could understand Lev’s frustration.  What use was knowing how to get powerful if it didn’t work the way you expected?  Even with Jain’s limited knowledge, he knew that level-ups were only good because you got stronger through it.  Stat points, new skills, abilities, whatever.  But it seemed like their version of the System was unusually stingy.

“So what did you get for the quest rewards?”  Lev asked.

Irina swung her sword.  “A stat point.”

“A stat point?!”  Lev’s face grew pale.

Natalia’s gaze turned from calmly interested to cool disinterest, looking back and forth between Irina.

‘But I didn’t get a stat point.’  Jain noted quietly.  But just in case, he pressed on the flashing [Quest] tab.

—

Quest: Rescue the Kristoff Heirs

Difficulty: B+

Success!

Reward

• 500 Coins

—

Jain quickly organized the information in his head.

One.  Levels up didn’t guarantee Stats or Skill Points.

Two.  People could get different rewards from the same quest.

Three.  What the hell were Coins?

‘Some kind of shop, maybe?  But I don’t see anything on the screen.’  Jain pressed around some more, but there was nothing there.

There was the possibility that Jain simply didn’t see anything because he was too low level.  Just like how he didn’t know about the [Class] choice at level five, or the [Race] upgrade at level ten; Coins could be a feature of the game that hadn’t been revealed yet.  After all, his [Identify] skill worked in the same way.

“So?”

Jain looked at Lev who asked the question.  He could tell, Lev was trying to be casual about it.  But Jain had a lifetime of experience of studying people trying to hide something.  In this case, it wasn’t hard to figure out what Lev wanted: Information.

“No stats.”  Jain lied, “Just experience.  I’m level three.”

Lev nodded.  “So you don’t have any combat skills at all?”

“Unfortunately not.”

“He can take care of himself.”  Irina chimed in, “Do not worry about him.”

Natalia laughed, a spring bell chimes on a lazy summer afternoon.  She said something to Irina in Russian, to which her sister responded in kind –much more heatedly.  The two exchanged more Russian then Natalia laughed again.

“Fine then.”  Natalia put the hat on her head then held up a demonic uzi in one hand.  Jain had no idea where the other one was.  “Are we all ready then?”

“Shouldn’t we prepare?”  Lev asked.

“Oh, dear brother.  There is nothing to prepare.”  Natalia then swiped midair.

—

Natalia Kristoff is inviting you to her Party (2/4).

Accept?

Reject?

—

“Oooh.  Fancy.”  Jain whistled then pressed on [Accept].  He instinctively knew what being in a party represented.  The number [2/4] filled up to [3/4] then quickly reached max capacity.

As soon as Jain joined the party, tiny little icons popped into existence above each of the Kristoffs.

Treasure Chests.

“It just feels a little unbalanced, that’s all.”  Lev stated, so quiet that Jain almost didn’t hear.  It was obvious who and what he was referring to.

Jain decided to ignore it.  Because it was true, he technically was freeloading.

Irina scowled at her brother but followed suit, deciding to ignore her younger brother.  She quickly strode over to the doorway and began to move the barricade in palce.  Jain walked over and began to help her.

With the four of them working together, they managed to move the barricade rather quickly.  Irina put a door on the handle.

Jain tried to ignore the hammering in his chest.

The shallow cut on his thigh still stung, but it was manageable.  It felt more like a huge papercut than an actual stab wound.  He was limping a bit, but when the pressure was on, he managed to run before.  So why should it matter now?

But more than the physical pain, Jain tried to shut himself away from the nervousness that was skulking in the darkness of his mind.  But when he shut his eyes to steady his breathing, the goblin’s cruel eyes and its smile kept flashing; poised to strike and its bodiless-head still dripping with head.

‘Got to get used to it, Jain.  This is your life now.’  He told himself.

“Ready?”  Irina made eye contact with the others.

Lev nodded.  Natalia had both uzis again; how and where she hid it the first time around, Jain had no idea.

“Jain?”

Irina’s blue pupils were piercing.  Jain looked at the three of them, noting the treasure chest icon.  Filled to the brim and overflowing with cartoon-like gold.

“W-Wait.”  Jain stammered.

The three Kristoffs turned to look at him at the same time, eerily symmetrical in all but sex.

Jain took a breath.  “What if there’s more than goblins out there?”

Irina raised an eyebrow, shared a look with her siblings and took her hand off the handle.  “Explain.”

“Goblins are European in origin.  Right?  Well, if you trace the roots far back enough, there’s a figure called the Erlking.”  Jain looked around to see if they had any questions. Seeing that they didn’t, he continued.  “Depending on who you ask, it’s different.  But generally, the Erlking is the King of the Goblins.”

“This isn’t a fairytale, this is real life.”  Lev commented.

“Right.  This is real life.  But up until a day ago, I would’ve argued that goblins are fairytale, no?”

Lev looked like he was about to say something then stopped.

“Go on.”  Natalia urged.

“I’m just saying, there’s a chance that a lot of these real-life monsters have a close resemblance to their fairytale counterparts.”

“He speaks truth.”  Irina supported.  “The bugs.  They burned in sunlight.”

“Exactly.”  Jain nodded.

Natalia was looking at him even more intensely than before.  Jain tried not to look at her, choosing to focus on Lev.

“I think there’s a chance that it’s not just goblins out there.  But a leader.  Maybe like a general, or a chieftain of sorts.”

“You think there’s a King commanding them?”  Lev scoffed.

“If there’s a King, why not a general?”  Seeing Natalia’s doubtful expression, Jain added, “The Erlking isn’t depicted as some kind of mindless savage being.  He’s cunning and smart.  And we all saw those goblins.  They’re not some mindless monsters.  They have thought.”

“Do they?”  Natalia whispered.

“They hide in dark corners, waiting for prey to show up.  They have rudimentary weapons.  They can imitate speech.  One of them screamed out ‘Help! Help!’ in the voice of a little girl.  That’s not to call other goblins.  I’d say imitating a little girl is meant to lure people like us.”  Jain swallowed, “I’d say that’s pretty smart.”

Natalia shuddered.

“What is point, Jain?”  

“My point is,”  Jain summed up his thoughts, “is that either they have a leader who’s a lot smarter than them.  Or they themselves are smarter than we give them credit for.  So if they know we’re in here, we go out there, kill a couple of them and then come back in, repeat that a couple of times.  What do you think they’ll do?”

“Adapt.  They set trap.  Ambush.”  Irina shook her head.  “Shit.”

“Yeah, shit.”  Jain agreed.  “There’s a high chance that they have something prepared for us right now.”

“So?”  Lev countered.  “We can’t stay in here forever.”

“But we can’t come back in here either.”  The former-psychic felt the adrenaline leave his body, deflating.  All he did was voice his opinion but it had taken a lot out of him somehow.  Still, it was something that needed to be said.  “Once we open that door, I… I don’t think we should come back in.”

“Then the answer is simple,”  Irina placed her hand on the handle again, “We breakthrough.”

“It’s not that simple anymore.”  Lev pinched the bridge of his nose again.  “Here, we have cover.  We could’ve closed and barricaded the door anytime.  But now, we have to expose ourselves.”

“Yes, but now, you have me.”  Irina said confidently.

Natalia didn’t say anything, seemingly lost in her own thoughts.

“You don’t even have a class yet.  And from what I saw, he can’t fight.”

Irina glared at Lev then at Natalia.  “I will.  Soon.  So will Jain.”

Jain watched the exchange silently.

Lev said something in Russian to which Irina actually spat at his feet.  It was weird seeing a pretty girl like Irina be so crude.

“Enough, both of you.”  Natalia gestured to the door.  “Jain is right.  We must leave.”

“But-”

“No buts.  We keep the same plan as before, but on the move.”  Natalia turned to Irina.  “Irina, you remember Chicago?”

Irina grinned.  “Da.”

“Irina and I will go first.  Lev, blind them first and follow afterwards.  Jain, stick close.”  Natalia’s tone had changed, from flirtatious to careful to authoritative.

‘This is probably her real self.’  Jain nodded, his heart starting to pound as Irina grabbed the door handle again.

“Ready?”  Irina went through the same motions, checking in with each of them.

This time, Jain remained silent and just nodded.

“GO!”  Irina screamed as she turned the handle and slammed her shoulder into the door.

And mayhem exploded into reality.

First was Lev, who brought out his book and held out a hand.  Being warned before hand, Jain had closed his eyes.  But the light that Lev summoned flashed through Jain’s eyelids, leaving streaks of rainbow colors that fluttered around in his vision.

It was immediately followed by the screams of goblins.

“GO!”  Irina screamed again.

Natalia’s guns screeched, spitting out a hail of bullet.  When Jain first saw them in action, bursts of gunfire were accompanied by the signature rapid metallic gun sounds from movies.  But now, the guns screamed with multilayered voices of demonic beings reminiscent of horror movies depictions of otherworldly horror.

The first group of goblins fell, mowed down by the bullet.  Some of the goblins took cover, but started giving off their own screams after.

Any wound that had been grazed by a bullet burned with black flames.

The same black flames that Irina’s sword gave off.

—

Name: Hades Uzi

Grade: B+

Description

A set of submachine guns forged in hellfire.

Their true power is sealed until their wielder grows more powerful.

First of the Kristoff Infernal-Weaponry set.

Soul-Bound: Natalia Kristoff

Effects

+Aim

+Sight

+Speed

[UNABLE TO IDENTIFY]

[UNABLE TO IDENTIFY]

…

[GROWTH POSSIBLE] 

—

“Hey, stop staring and move.”

Brought back to reality Lev, Jain started running behind the two sisters.

Lev followed in the wake of his sisters, looking around.  Seemingly satisfied, Lev pointed to a corpse with his palm.

“Rise.”

The youngest Kristoff’s hand was abruptly surrounded by black-purple miasma.  Just as Jain had seen before, one of the corpses melted into ectoplasm while its skeleton leaped towards its fleshly-brother.  The skeletal summon tore into the meatbag with sharpened claws and teeth.  Unless Jain was mistaken, everytime its claws slashed another victim, black fire flared into existence.  Very brief, but it was there.

The combined might of the Kristoff siblings were something straight out of a fantasy book.  Blessed with good-looks, their abilities complemented each other perfectly.  Irina in the frontlines, cleaving into multiple goblins with her sword.  Natalia covering her from range and Lev bringing up the rear with his skeleton summon and occasional flashes of light.

For a moment, Jain thought they’d get out of there without problems.

A chill descended in the air.

There was no other way to describe it.  It was different from the subtle changes that one can observe.  Like one’s breath turning white when it's cold.  How the birds flying south coincides with cold fronts settling in.  Nights getting longer, days getting shorter.

Jain realized that Lev’s [Light] spell was distracting as hell.  Especially for the goblins, it had them screaming and clutching at their eyes –which was why Natalia and Irina had been able to play grim reaper for so long.  But it also had an adverse effect.

Lingering light made their eyes get used to brightness.

Human eyes, built for the light.

The lights at the museum weren’t on yet.  Just the soft glow from the display cases.

A shadowy figure dashed between the cases, blending in with the shadows.  Barely visible to human eyes that hadn’t adjusted to the dark yet.

“Irina!”  Jain tried, but it was too late.

A cloaked figure wielding a long curved sword exploded out of shadow.  It left no time for Irina to react and the thing fought like a human, the ones you see on television. Long legs struck Irina in the chest, sending her falling backwards.  Irina tried to trip the thing but it leaped up, its curved sword slashing down once and twice.

Blood poured.

Natalia yelled something out in Russian and then pivoted, focusing fire on the new enemy.

In one smooth movement, it took off its cloak and spun it, creating a barrier of magical cloth.  Bullets bounced off of it with the futile clinks.

Jain’s [Identify] activated.

—

Name: Goblin Warrior

Grade: D

Description

A trained Goblin Warrior is worth twenty untrained Goblins.  Honed from years of hunting, their battle skills are formidable.  The proudest of them search for powerful warriors and challenge them to duels.

—