Collide Gamer

Chapter 56 – Choosing a target

Seduction was the goal, but neither John nor Rave made any overt moves. For one, they were too busy bantering back and forth as they usually did. Victoria being quiet the entire trip into the forest did not make it easier. Her eyes darted around the place the entire time, as if she was expecting an ambush. Difficult to even try and flirt with a woman who hid discomfort under a surface of neutrality. She did answer when spoken to though.

“So, why did you want to join us?” John asked.

“I already said: I am curious about your powers. Isn’t that enough?” Victoria’s gaze lingered on him a while, challenging him to say ‘no’.

“Go easy on John, he’s always questioning stuff,” Rave chimed in.

“He won’t always get answers that he likes though.” For some reason, she put emphasis on the ‘always’. Quickly, she averted her gaze, scanning the forest for the umptieth time.

‘I can see how her Charisma is so low… not that I’m one to talk,’ John thought. Hot as he found her, talking to her was almost a chore. At best she seemed disinterested and at worst abrasive. He focused on talking to the woman he shared a bond with like no other. It was even deeper now that they shared the goal of creating a harem. Who, on the entire Earth, could be luckier than he? “I guess this is deep enough,” John eventually announced. There was no way anyone would find them out there. “Let’s see our options…”

After opening his Character Sheet, he tapped on the Create I.D. Skill in an effort to pull out that list again. He not only found it, it was actually overhauled.

That was an interesting development. A whole Tier system for the enemies. Tapping around a bit revealed that the Tiers encompassed level intervals of 5. In other words, Tier 0 was 1-5, 1 6-10, 2 11-15, and so on. The two white options were the ones that John had fought before, so he assumed that was the display’s way of telling him those were considered cleared.

The Gap sounded ominous and there was no tutorial telling him what was up with it. Did difficulty drastically increase after it? Because he would get it if that was the case, but he’d like to be informed beforehand. There was no walkthrough he could look up for things he didn’t know about.

“So, the strongest thing I can create are Treants, they should be on average 5 levels higher than the Ghosts.”

“That puts the strongest of them at our Level.” Rave mused, “Sounds boring.”

“Well, I like boring when diving into the unknown.” John scratched the back of his neck. “What do you think Victoria?” From a pure level perspective she, together with Aclysia, was the bottom end of this party.

“As long as I can shoot it I am fine,” Victoria stated and rolled her shoulder. The guitar case moved with it.

“So that IS a weapons case?” Rave blurted out, “I couldn’t believe it.”

“Yes…but how do you know?”

“I had a hunch yesterday, y-you know, when you bought the bullets.” John quickly lied. Thankfully his high Wisdom Stat made him quick to think of believable lies. Unluckily, his ‘Okay’-Charisma made him not exactly the best presenter.

Victoria seemed to buy it though, “And you told her about that?”

“I’m his girlfriend, in case ya didn’t notice. Of course he would tell me.” Rave playfully criticized.

“I see.” Victoria just dropped the topic and turned back to John. “So, Treants it is.”

“Mhm, a dumb question but if I blast them with sunlight do you think they will get some kind of drug rush from it?” Rave pondered in a nonchalant tone.

“I think they will burn, actually.” Recollections of what bursts of her ability did to the forest floor were as fresh as the last grinding session.

“But maybe it will be like they overdose on cocaine or something.”

“I wonder if you can smoke Treant leaves while we are on the topic of drugs.” Rave continued her non-sensical questions. “Has been a while since I smoked.”

“You had weed before?” John was a bit more shocked than was necessary, he just didn’t think of Rave as somebody who smoked. Then again, she was a party girl.

“Just a tad. Didn’t dislike it but I also wouldn’t go out of my way to get some….Ya looking at me funny.”

“Just a bit surprised is all.” John shook his head. “Sorry, just the remainders of the stupid PSAs bouncing around my head.”

Rave laughed. “I was offered some at a party. Never met the guys again. Doubt they did it to get me hooked on crack though.”

“Same party where you demolished a table?” John asked with a grin.

“Nah, that was after that, fun fact the club I went to-”

“Would you please, in her damned name, stop talking?” Victoria’s accent became heavier, as her voice became louder. “I thought we were here to ‘farm’ or whatever you call it.”

“Wow, calm down there Winter Soldier.” Rave reprimanded her. “We are sweet talking here.”

“You are taking too lo-“

“Who do you mean?” John interrupted.

He was surprised he did it. He was surprised by a lot of things he did these days, but interrupting a stranger, especially one as stern as Victoria, would not have entered his thoughts until recently. The question took the wind out of Victoria’s sails. “Mean who with what?” she asked, slowly forcing herself to stare at him.

“You said ‘in her damned name’, who do you mean? Who is ‘her’?”

“You know… Gaia,” Victoria answered swiftly.

‘Do I know that?’ John wondered. Something about this just didn’t feel right. Was he being paranoid? ‘Just because I might be paranoid doesn’t mean they are not out to get me…’

“Can we continue now?” Victoria forced the conversation to move on and John let it pass. He had no idea what he would have kept asking or why he would have done so.

“Yes, yes,” John agreed and closed the I.D. window. Arm stretched to the sky, he held the word ‘Treant’ in his head. That was enough. The woods went silent, as winds immediately stopped. “There you go, all nice and… where is she?” The Gamer did not see Victoria around. It took just another second for her to pop up. ‘Right, not in the party,’ he reminded himself. “Happy?”

“It is a start,” Victoria stated and brushed some of her black hair back. With that single gesture, John was reminded of his weakness for women. She was one pale, gorgeous creature. She slipped the guitar case from her shoulder and opened it up.

The lid kept John from seeing what happened inside the object. Fact was that Victoria vanished halfway into the case. When she came back up, she did so with an assault rifle in hand.

While that was going on, he also pulled the tiny Aclysia from his inventory. Stiff, then slowly turning conscious again, she moved. Their mental connection went from static to clear. The order to start growing to her proper size was acknowledged, then the questions started. “Where are we?”

“In the forest. We’re going to fight Treants.”

“What are Treants?”

“Plant-based monsters. You should be familiar with them. They often come in the appearance of trees and such.”

“Affirmative, I am familiar with these monsters,” Aclysia stated. That was the basic gaming knowledge at work again.

Rave did a couple of stretches, bending her legs and her back in all manners of poses. It wasn’t meant to look sexual, but the Gamer couldn’t help but stare anyway. Once she noticed, his girlfriend made it just a tad sexual. “So, what’s the goal?” The question snapped him out of his drooling. “We fight ‘til we’re tired, until the boss spawns? Gimme a goal.”

“Quest says we should kill 25 Treants and the boss for bonus Loot. So, let’s aim for the boss monster.”

“Shall I stay within ten metres, as per usual, Creator John?” Aclysia asked.

“…Yes… you remember that?” he asked carefully. That was the order he had given her each time they began a fight. Typically, it had needed restating, like all orders.

When he brought it up, Aclysia looked even more confused than he did. “I… I do?” she confirmed. “A vague memory, a… habit. It is imperative to my mission. I shall be a loyal servant that will protect you to the best of my ability, Creator John.”

The Gamer gave it a slow nod. “Since you’re a little smarter now, could you decide what to call me? Creator John is a bit cumbersome.”

“Whatever would you prefer?” Aclysia asked.

“Creator, John, Newman, each of them works for me.”

“Why Newman?” Aclysia wondered. “I know the other two.”

“Newman is my family name.”

“Ah… a family name… would it truly be fitting to address you with a name that you share with others?”

“Well, the rest of my family isn’t he-“ John started and was stopped when a loud, creaking voice echoed through the woods. A scream of bark parting and hatred rising.

“Youuuuuuuuuuu!” it bellowed.

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