Wish upon the Stars chapter 2 pt 4

As I confirmed the wish and I felt myself change. Fantasy, whatever  it did, didn't interact directly with my body, but Vitality did. It  didn't make me stronger, or tougher, but it made me more ALIVE. I had  more energy, more life force. It felt fucking awesome. I'd never  experienced anything remotely like this in my life and I loved it. There  were plenty of stats, but I now knew at least some of them affected my  body directly, which was...interesting.

As  I was having my little revelation the purple static on my body picked  up to insane level and then the building energy discharged in a flash.  Maddie's eyes flashed purple and she inhaled sharply before doubling  over and vomiting up a torrent of black sludge. She heaved about ten  times, and judging by the volume there was no possible way she'd  actually had that much sludge in her lungs, but by the end the vomit had  become clear bile and her breaths had become deeper and faster.

The  beefy guy with the purple hair had panicked a bit when she'd started  puking, but as the action went on and the sludge started to thin his  eyes lit up with glee. I couldn't see his mouth because of the purple  bandana around his face but I knew he'd be smiling. At the same time he  was gently swaying on his feet. Apparently losing a point of Vitality  sapped your energy, which made plenty of sense, but I could tell he was  happy with the deal.

He  turned to look at his girlfriend. "Hey Mads, how ya doin?" His voice  was gentle as he questioned her, and he slipped an arm around her  shoulder to help steady her as the dazed redhead recovered a bit from  her ordeal. Her eyes were unfocused and she looked out of it, but some  of that pallor I'd taken for her natural skin tone seemed to have been  replaced with a bit of a flush, which seemed like a good sign.

She  smiled up at him brilliantly, her green eyes tearing up. "I feel  amazing. I can...I can breathe. Like a real deep breath without coughing  at the end." She closed her eyes and took the biggest deepest breath  she could, exhaling into a laugh as she gleefully demonstrated that  she'd been healed. Her eyes turned to me. "Thank you. Thank you so much,  I can't even tell you how terrible it's been. This feels so amazing. I  don't know how to repay you for this."

I  shook my head. "You already paid. All transactions are non refundable,  no further compensation is required." I suspected she didn't know the  value of what her boyfriend just paid to get her healed or she might not  be so quick to shower me with praise, but he could make it back later  from what I knew so I wasn't going to beat myself up about it. It had  been fair compensation and both sides were happy.

Before  she could respond though a new voice cut in. "Well, if it isn't Violent  Vinnie and his little red haired whore." The sneer in the voice was  obvious, and it made me flick my eyes over to take a look at the new  Jack-tastic Jerk who had walked up to the table. His eyes were focused  on Maddie and the beefy purple haired man I know knew was Vinniem and  from the the way there were narrowed and his tone, his feelings were not  friendly.

If  Vinnie was big and beefy this asshole was a mountain. His skin was  grayish pale and his body was so bulging with muscle it looked like he  might split open like a grape if he flexed wrong. His hair was an angry  bright red to match his mask and he was easily seven feet tall and  probably four feet wide at the shoulders. He was a fucking monster, and  he looked real pissed at the two.

Vinnie,  who was still reeling from losing his Vitality in the deal with me, did  his best to appear menacing as he stepped protectively in front of  Maddie. "Hey watch your fuckin' mouth Markie. I ain't afraid of you,  even if everyone else is. Maddie ain't interested in you and you gotta  get over it! She ain't even sick no more, so you can take your offer and  shove it up your ass!"

The  red haired menace, whose name was apparently Markie, turned to look at  me in a way that was decidedly not friendly. "Is that fuckin' so? I take  it we have our new friend here to thank for that? That what happened  big man? You stick your fuckin' nose in my business where it didn't  belong?" He stepped up, grabbed the corner of the table and flipped it  sideways like it was made of styrofoam. I was beginning to regret not  bringing a friend with me.

Despite  the menacing mountain of meat baring down on my I sat still, seemingly  unconcerned as I thought desperately for a way out of this. Vinnie cried  out in surprise and stepped up to grab Markie's arm. "Dear Revenant, Markie are you crazy? He's with the WCP, you can't just smack him around  cuz' you feel like it! You're gonna get us all killed!" His voice was  tense as he glanced worriedly at me.

Markie  just laughed cruelly and back handed the still wobbling man, sending  him flying. "Fuck off. I ain't afraid of some nancy boy in a suit, I  don't care where he came from." He smacked his chest like an ape. "Mad  Markie ain't afraid a fuckin' nobody." His glare landed back on me. "How  bout you nancy boy? You afraid of anyone? You gonna tell me how your  big bad boss will kick my ass later? How scary your pals are?"

His  eyes were shining with a genuine madness that made his self proclaimed  nickname seem pretty fucking accurate, and I knew right then and there  that no matter what went down next I was about to get into a fight.  Which was a problem, because I had absolutely zero fighting skills. I'd  never thrown a punch in real life. I could fuck a guy up in Doom  Sovereign, but that was with combos and special skills to use against  everyone. Skills I didn't have here.

Still,  I did have my new Vitality point, and a Minor Gymnastics skill that  should help me dodge, so since I was getting my teeth kicked in here  anyway might as well try to boost my rep while I did it. I stood up  unhurriedly, brushing imaginary dust off my suit as I stared down the  angry thug in front of me. "After I crush you I'd prefer you not be able  to whine about not having room." I gestured to the empty parking lot.  "Shall we take this somewhere a bit more spacious."

Markie  bared his teeth in an expression that only someone with a whole lot to  gain would possibly call a smile. "Well look at that Vin, looks like the  little nancy boy here isn't as much of a little bitch as you are. But  don't worry. I'll work you over when I'm done with him. Maybe I was too  nice with my offer before, wonder how many bones I gotta break on you  before your bitch gets in line. If I'd know you were this weak I'da done  that from the start."

He  turned and swaggered over the parking lot as Maddie rushed to help her  boyfriend stand up. He had a forming bruise over one eye and I winced.  If he hadn't lost that point of Vitality like that I somehow didn't  think he'd have been so easy to smack around. Having part of your life  force ripped out would make anyone fumble. He looked like he wanted to  say something but I just shook my head and handed him my coat, following  the other man out into the parking lot.

As  I walked I took note of my skills. Most of them were artistic or  involved some form of entertainment. I had Minor Gymnastics, which  should at least held me dodge a bit, but Minor skills were basically  just peak level skill for the area from what I could tell. Local guitar  genius level playing and so on. But that left me with one skill I didn't  really get. Specifically I didn't understand Lesser Doom Sovereign  Mastery.

Based  on my observations Minor skills should be damn impressive, which meant  Lesser skills should be above the level of what a normal human could  reach. But what the hell did that mean when you were talking a video  game. Doom Sovereign was a VR game sure, but being beyond human levels  of skilled at it didn't seem to translate much to what I could do in  real life, so why did the skill exist.

I  wished I could use one of my Doom Sovereign combat styles, but I didn't  have the skills for that. Hell even if I did I didn't have and of the  combat assist overlays you got in game to help with my fighting. My  normal in game style was pretty agile too, so Minor Gymnastics probably  would have helped. And then I stopped thinking, because I FELT  something.

Minor  Gymnastics and Lesser Doom Sovereign started to resonate with each  other, the resonance alone didn't seem like it would do much, but I felt  the two point's of fantasy I had sort of flex, a slight strain exerting  itself in a part of my soul I didn't even realize existed, and the  world just...shifted. I'd walked out to the parking lot after Markie,  taking up a spot right across from him.

As  I looked over at the other man though I saw a shift in my vision. The  combat overlay from Doom Sovereign shimmered into being around him. I  didn't see any of my skills involved in the combo, but intricate path's  and attack patterns were laid out in the air. Patterns I knew I could  follow with my Minor Gymnastics skill. My eyes were wide behind my mask  as I stared in wonder at the new ability I hadn't even known I had.

Granted  it wasn't anything crazy, just some vague directions on what to do. But  it was a hell of a lot better than I could have done on my own. I  hadn't realized that Skills and stats could work together like this, and  it made me wonder what my other Skills might be capable of. The Skill  crystals back at the Wish Curse Palace had been expensive as hell, but I  figured that was just because the sales people were greedy. Now I  wasn't so sure.

Markie  was looming over me, a smug, cruel gleam in his eyes as he glared down  at me, but for the first time since he'd gotten in my face a few minutes  ago I wasn't worried. In fact, I was excited. I'd done this in Doom  Sovereign so many times before. Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost, but I  always made the other guy work for it, and now I could see the way to  do the same here. I might get my ass kicked in this fight sure, but I  wouldn't humiliate myself, and that was what mattered most right now.

I  started forward, hands at my sides as I walked casually towards the big  man. Every step I took the combat layout shifted, showing me new  routes, new methods of attack, as well as giving me predictive lines for  attacks and responses the muscle bound asshole might employ. Each step  shortened the number of moves in the chain, making the attack patterns  simpler and less flashy, condensing them into more and more dangerous  strategies for hurting the other man.

Finally when I was within about six steps I saw what I was looking for. An opening in his guard. And I attacked.