Homegrown System

They finally found the golf cart tractor-looking hybrid that Alice saw many of the campus employees and groundskeepers riding around in. It was off to the side of the loading bay, where trucks could go back in to be unloaded. There was a little garage, and the keys turned the battery right on. Titus had them zipping down the cart path to the campus network of bike paths at a comfortable fifteen miles an hour. There was plenty of space in the back for all the equipment she needed to gather, so Alice was satisfied until, less than a minute later, Titus braked the cart.

Tires squeaking, they came to a sudden halt.J Just around the corner, a pair of familiar-looking bike monsters that were now level six appeared.

It was weird how the handlebars moved as if they were arms more than anything, and the wheels spun. The fronts had little face-like protrusions that reminded her more of an animal than a machine, but clearly, they were still made of metal.

"First opponents," Titus said, giving her a push to slide her off the cart.

Alice looked around. "How am I supposed to fight these metal things?" She said, still not drawing her knife. She held the fire extinguisher she had brought with her but didn't have much confidence in it being useful. The bikes started to circle her as if they were stalking prey.

"You'll be fine," Titus insisted.

Alice aimed the nozzle of the fire extinguisher at the closer one but didn't pull the trigger.

"I don't think this is going to work," she said, nerves making her voice rise in pitch. The one she wasn't pointing at sprung forward, tires leaving a rubber mark on the asphalt of the cart path. She swung and clipped the front wheel with the heavy body of the fire extinguisher, sending it careening past her but not actually doing much damage.

Alice looked around, trying to find something more useful. The fire extinguisher was too heavy for her to swing fast, and while it had enough weight, she couldn't put enough oomph in it to really bend the structures of these bike monsters. Without a nearby car to run over her opponents, she really didn't have many options. She was regretting her choice of skill already, but unfortunately, she couldn't change it to something more useful.

Getting an idea, she looked at the monsters, focusing on the mana moving through them. It seemed normal, more like the ambient mana all around her and less than the few sparrows she'd seen. Nothing close to what Titus looked like, but she did notice the amount gathering at the tires of one of them right before it sprung.

Using this foresight, she could dodge out of the way and whack it with the fire extinguisher as it went by, still causing no noticeable harm. This went on for a couple of minutes, Alice dodging out of the way while delivering ineffectual blows with the heavy metal cylinder she held in one hand. The one time she attempted to ice one over, it completely ignored it, and she wasted a solid fifteen percent of the magic fire extinguisher's charge to no effect.

"Titus!" she called. "A little help? Maybe just some advice?"

Titus was still sitting in the cart, watching while keeping an eye on their surroundings. "You're doing fine," he said. "Maybe try focusing on their wheels."

Alice sighed. "I've thought about that." The next time around she tried to hit the wheel, but the cylinder just bounced off the rubber uselessly.

Titus called, "Aim for the spokes."

Alice looked around, and just as she dodged out of the way of the next one, she ducked off the path into the landscaped garden around them and pulled out a stake holding a tree upright. The long wooden stake wasn't going to be able to damage the metal by hitting it, but this time, as one of the bikes charged at her; she dodged out of the way, ready to make a move.

Being able to see whatever skill they did to activate their charge ability massively helped her prepare. With a grunt, she jabbed the stick in the spokes of the wheel. The stick crunched and cracked, but several of the spokes bent, and the wheel got jammed. The bike fell over, its back wheel spinning helplessly.

"One down, one to go." She repeated the trick with a different stick. Both bike monsters were lying on the ground, spokes bent and front wheels unable to turn. With awkward brutality, she bashed them with the fire extinguisher body as they lay motionless on the ground until she eventually received experience for their defeat.

Walking back towards the cart, Alice panted and wiped her sweaty hair out of her face as she glared at Titus. "That was not fun," she said between breaths. "You could have pointed that out earlier."

Titus shrugged. "I thought that would be obvious. And you were practicing something. But yes, you should definitely try to figure out some way to hit opponents' weaknesses."

"Did your [Critical Strike] skill tell you where to hit it?" Alice asked, still peeved.

Titus shook her head. "No, it didn't activate. It just seemed obvious to me."

She slumped in the seat, the nice bit of shade and the soft cushion being a welcome relief as she relaxed. "Fine," she said, "But you're taking the next one."

Titus shook his head. "Nope. If it's under my level, you're taking it. Besides, I don't think I get much for fighting a couple of level-six beasts. Not if killing a ton of level 15 thunder sparrows barely got me a level."

They started up again. "Yeah, I'm not sure each of those thunder sparrows was level 12," Alice said. "I wonder if it was more that the entire group was level 12."

Titus grunted. "Maybe. Still, I can't believe I only got to level eight after that."

"Well, maybe you should fight more monsters," Alice said. He had fought a decent number of monsters in the low teens on the way over here, and it still hadn't done much besides give them a level or two. It seemed, though, that either significantly higher levels or more difficult foes were needed in order to get proper experience. Or perhaps Titus just needed to fight people. You just needed to fight a lot of monsters to level up.

The next time they stopped was for a level seven owl wearing a graduation hat.T It looked downright silly but had an incredibly sharp beak and wickedly curved talons. Alice received several slashes, but the fire extinguisher was actually useful here, freezing the owl's feathers and grounding it long enough for her to bash it to death. She was numb to the violence, but still, killing the silly-looking owl thing was difficult for her. Titus bandaged up her cuts, and they continued on their way.

"How many more do you think before I need to hit level seven?" Alice asked. She was still a decent way away from level six.

Titus shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think it depends on how much difficulty you're having. You seem to be gaining a lot more from these fights than I would have, even if I was at your level. But that might have to do with how you're fighting."

Alice wasn't sure, but that didn't sound unreasonable. The next time they stopped was for a [Hellhound lvl 14]. The thing looked like a Rottweiler but was almost the size of a golf cart and had thin streams of lava dripping out of the sides of its mouth instead of drool. Titus told her to stay in the cart for this one as he got out and faced it, shovel, spear, and ax in hand.

Alice watched as he used the advantage of his [Critical Strike] skill to lash out and start attacking the thing. He stabbed it in the eye with a throw from the spear right off the bat, sending it into a blinding howl. As it flailed wildly, he calmly took it apart with several swings of his ax until the thing was headless and dead. He dragged the smoking body out of the way of the cart, coming back with a smile.

"Hey, you hit level nine!" Alice realized.

Titus nodded. "Yeah, I think using skills in combat actually helps level faster."

"Really?"

"Well, I mean, it seems like it. It's the only time I've ever actually used anything in battle. But [Critical Strike] seems to help."

Alice nodded. "Maybe that's why I'm leveling a little faster than you were; I'm actually using my [Mana Sight]. It helps me read the motion and skill of the creatures. It seems like they oftentimes will direct some sort of mana to reinforce whatever they're planning on doing, which lets me read their motions ahead of time."

"Yeah, that sounds really useful," Titus remarked as he started up the golf cart again, and they were soon cruising down the path towards the maintenance building. "Well, I wonder if identifying creatures during the fight helps more or not."

"Yeah, well, even if we just practice using the skills, it seems to be a useful way of improving," Alice suggested. "Though I hope to get a combat skill next time."

"We'll see," Titus said. "I'm not sure if general skills are really going to give you too much magic combat. I mostly found them to be proficiencies or utility skills so far."

"Yeah," Alice nodded. "The name 'general skills' makes me think of some other type of skills available. Perhaps there's a combat skill we can unlock or something."

"Maybe," Titus said. "But yeah, it implies some other kind of skill, and maybe we'll get more combat options."

"I really want to learn fireball," Alice muttered as they continued on.

Titus just laughed.