Pieces of Sonder

“Oh, I don’t like this.”

Freya looked inside the small enclosed space. Only a single small window at the front allowed in air. The structure swayed as Infamous Biscuit stepped aboard. Bile rose up her throat.

In order to travel to the Port District, the King granted them permission to use this special carriage. They were told this was the ‘mechanical marvel’ of Suen. The King hailed it as “the invention that allowed our country to be built.”

To Freya, it looked like another terrible wizard invention.

 “I’m not getting in this thing. I’ll sit on top.”

“You’re going to fall off,” Infamous Biscuit said.

“Better than getting sick in this box,” Freya retorted and started climbing up the wooden structure. “The last time I rode in a mana-powered cart, I threw up everywhere. It’s worse than being on a boat.”

Everyone gave her a skeptical look as she perched on top of the tall structure. The odd vehicle sat on top of two metal rods that ran along the ground. In larger towns, Freya had seen many carts and wagons assisted by mana stones to ease the burden of draft animals. However, she had never seen anything like this that ran on mana stones alone. Still, she was sure she didn’t want to be in an enclosed space when it moved.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go,” she said, looking down at the others.

Heilong shrugged and got in the cart, “I wonder how fast this train can run.”

“Isn’t this pretty advanced technology for this world?” Nightscythe said. “Is it a part of the game?”

“The King said this used to transport goods from the harbor to the inner districts, so I don’t think it’s a part of the game. Just a part of this world.”

Once the machine started moving, Freya leaned forward, amazed by the motion. The cart followed the metal tracks towards the ocean. They moved at a speed comparable to a fast run. Both Heilong and Nightscythe complained it was too slow, but it was amazing to Freya.

Soon they passed a line of large talismans staked to the ground. 

King Illyas had told them the entire Port District had been abandoned. Many shamans had worked together to create this boundary to keep the demons inside contained. Freya couldn’t help but whistle at all the talismans. The boundary must have cost a fortune to construct. Good talisman wood was not cheap, and it looked like they had large pieces every couple of meters.

The temperature dropped as they passed the barrier. Freya wasn’t sure if it was due to the setting sun behind them or something more going on. As they crested a hill, she could see a fog bank rolling into the abandoned harbor town.

Then she heard Heilong call out from inside the cart, “Watch out there’s something up ahead!”

As the machine slowed, the back door of the cart opened, and Nightscythe crawled out. He nimbly climbed up to join Freya in sitting on top of the vehicle. 

Standing in the middle of the tracks, a large shadow with glowing red eyes waited for them. As they got closer, the blurry shape solidified into the outline of a wolf-like creature. It was twice as large as any normal wolf Freya had seen. Its back was hunched upright, and its fur stuck out in jagged chunks.

[Lesser Peninsula Wolf]

[Lvl 10] [300/300]

“We’re going to run into it!” Infamous Biscuit shouted from down below.

“Good! Let’s run it over!” Nightscythe yelled in delight next to Freya.

But the cart slowed down with Heilong saying, “We’re going to derail if we hit it.”

Still, the train had too much momentum, plus being on a downward slope, it kept moving forward. The creature looked at the incoming cart with disdain but showed no signs of moving.

“I think it’s time to abandon ship,” Infamous Biscuit called out to them. 

Freya was the first to disembark. She spotted a soft grassy landing spot and jumped. Rolling to break her fall, she hurried to catch up to the others. Infamous Biscuit, Heilong, and K13 used the back door of the cart to exit. The slowing of the vehicle made it easy to jump off. Nightscythe was last to jump, waiting seconds before the cart ran into the demon.

The wolf demon looked lazily at the incoming cart and moved off the tracks at the last second.

“Aw man, it didn’t get hit.” Nightscythe said.

Snarling, the wolf demon looked towards the rogue.

“There’s others coming from behind!” Heilong warned.

Four other wolves closed in, forming a circle around them. 

“They seem to have a strategy down,” Infamous Biscuit grumbled.

Freya considered what happened again. Hm, I see. So one wolf makes it seem like the cart will crash into it, so everyone abandons the vehicle, and then they circle their prey.

It was a good strategy, and they fell for it. But they were not ordinary townsfolk. Level ten demons did not pose much of a challenge. 

K13 immediately attracted their attention. Infamous Biscuit caught one in tangling vines, and then they got to work. With only 300 HP, it only took a few hits before they disappeared into a plume of smoke.

Just as Freya reflected on how effectively they worked, she noticed the wolf Nightscythe had focused on still had a large chunk of its HP left. 

The rogue lept on top of the wolf and stabbed it with his small weapon in the neck. The demon shook him off and glared at him. From the small cuts all over the wolf, Nightscythe had attacked it many times. However, the teenager panted more than the wolf did as he circled the demon.

Level ten monsters were not a problem for Freya, Heilong, K13, and Infamous Biscuit. They were all above level fourteen, but Nightscythe was only at level nine. 

Infamous Biscuit had informed her that Nightscythe was in the same class as Azer, the very first player she ever met. They both fought in a nimble manner, but Freya remembered Azer’s attacks being much more effective. 

Remembering her latest upgrade to her Shockwave ability, Freya surged her qi out and aimed at the wolf closing in on Nightscythe. It arched through the air and hit the demon wolf several feet away.  

[Lesser Peninsula Wolf]

[Lvl 10] [10/300]

Freya grinned. Before leaving for this story dungeon, she had reviewed the text box she had initially dismissed when her Shockwave skill reached level 10. It informed her that she didn’t need direct contact to release her qi into a target. She had suspected something felt different, but seeing it put into words finally gave her the knowledge to try it. The poor lesser fen mushrooms in her nearby practice field provided easy target practice. 

The wolf stumbled from her Shockwave. Nightscythe got in the last stab. A stab anywhere would probably finish the creature for only ten HP points, but Nightscythe aimed carefully for the demon’s throat.

Finally, it poofed into smoke, leaving behind a single fang and a black pelt. 

Nightscythe hunched over, out of breath. He rested his hands on his thighs and took several gasping breaths. 

“I know you already told us what you’re skills are, but what are your actual stats?” Infamous Biscuit asked as he walked up to Nightscythe. “I know you’re only level nine, but I thought rogue’s usually have a pretty good attack bonus in return for low health.”

“Oh,” Nightscythe said, scratching his head and looking up at the dark sky, “I changed a lot of the baseline stats when I started.”

“... so what are your stats now?” Heilong asked.

Nightscythe fiddled with the knife in his hand and then put it back into his inventory. “I can send you a screenshot.”

A minute later.

“These are your stats?” Heilong asked in disbelief.

Infamous Biscuit shook his head as he scrolled through the screenshot, “How did you even reach level nine without dying?”