Chapter 20: Chapter 19

Player Interaction - Interacting with other players can be done in many different forms. Open the “Interaction Screen” to see what can be done.

Estaria couldn’t even move, because she was shocked to find this place had other players. The box in her vision barely rated a sidebar when put against that shock. Sure, it was kind of hubris to think that there was only her given this massive superpower in the world, but she didn’t think that there would be other people this close. She expected them to be exotic Lustirans or mighty Chaos Lords or terrible beasts never before seen. This guy was a dwarf. A really overt dwarf, given the bulky armour and large axe, but still not quite what she thought other players would be. But then, she was just your average human with a special sword, so there was always that.

 

“What’cha staring at, Umgi?” Traukon asked, his eyes flicking up for a moment and then returning to his dinner.

“Ohh. I’m, just, it’s-” she stammered, and that was not something that he was enthusiastic about hearing.

“You never seen a true-blooded Dawi?” he looked up properly this time, and then paused, and made a sound. “Ohh…”

“My thoughts exactly. I never thought I’d see another player. I never knew there was another player in the system to meet” Estaria said, moving over to him and taking a seat next to him.

“Hmmm….ever thought that strange? The, fact that you call it a system, and yourself, a player?” Traukon asked, finishing his food and looking up. Estaria opened her mouth to speak, and then paused, and frowned. Thinking on that one.

“No. Until you pointed it out” She muttered, now being irate at the fact that it hadn’t bothered her.

“The same here. Me thinking it was never a problem, but you saying it sounded strange and wrong” Traukon shook his head, grabbing his ale and drinking deep. “Although this system is a great boon. I am stronger than any dwarf, as robust as the mountains, and wield my axes like lightning. Down in the tunnels, I cut a bloody swath through the foe, and now I stand ready to reclaim a Karak! New tunnels to explore, new foe to bring low-”

“If we succeed” Estaria cut in. “There is a reason why most expeditions that way have been small and quick” she pointed out.

“Ack! Just like an Umgi! You share the boon, and your level is such that you are sufficient to have surpassed any Umgi, and yet you still doubt” the ale was finished and he rose to find more.

 

“Mmm, I’ve just met enough foes to know it never goes smoothly” she then got off the morose subject, and grinned “But this does. I got some Bugman’s from the shop. Middenhiem was besieged and so I got a massive windfall, and bought cool stuff” she told him, pulling out a barrel from her inventory and sharing a cup. After using one for the fortress, two to get here, and one to make a friend, she had no more barrels left, but that was fine. There were always dungeons to run.

 

“So, have you ever had other people not really notice the extreme capacity of your actions? I lifted this six-hundred pound wagon and they just said thank you and carried on” Estaria asked, curious.

Traukon thought for a moment, taking big swigs o his cup as he did.

“Aye...at one point I tossed an axe some hundred paces into a Goblin’s skull. An impossible throw, something that should have raised incredible ruckus. But, it didn’t. My brothers saw it, and then returned to their post because that was the last Goblin that was attacking” he told Estaria, shaking his head.

"On one hand, I am glad that happens because the explanation would be hella awkward. But, on the other...it's worrying what else it's doing to me and the people around me" she'd take more measured sips of her cup, being the typical Umgi as usual it seemed.

"Not like we can do anything about it, so here. Check this out" Traukon exclaimed, pointing to a status screen in front of him. Realizing the player interaction one was still lingering, she shut it down and looked over, to see herself.

Stats and equipment neatly laid out, along with a racial trait that Estaria didn't seem to have on her list.

 

Human Ingenuity: All things are within the grasp of Man, for his passion will not allow the world's refusal - +30% exp gain

That trait...it made Traukon’s higher level even more alarming. HE must have gotten into fights every day since the system dropped to get that level. Though, it did track from what she heard about the life of a Karak Dwarf..

"Cool trait" She commented, opening Traukon's own to check what was going on. His gear was exceptional, as one would expect from a dwarf, and his strength and constitution were incredibly high. T'was a Dawi for ya.

Son Of Stone: The Dwarves are as the mountains themselves, and take equal punishment to be laid low. -40% Critical Wound and Fatigue debuffs

"Fitting for a Dwarf" Estaria commented, showing it to Traukon. "Though, what's an Ironbreaker?" she'd ask with a raised eyebrow.

"Ahh. There are a lot of tunnels in the mountains, both ours and the enemies. They need covering, lest our Karaks be overrun. That, is the duty of the Ironbreaker. To stand and fight against any beast that might try to enter the hold above"

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That would explain the high exp rate, for sure. It was nice to learn more about this, though she was curious as to how far such things went. Maybe they could make a party?

"Do you thinnnaa~" She was cut off by a sensual nibble on her ear, hands sliding round her waist to pull her into a hug.

"Who's your friend?" Elaine asked, resting her head on Estaria's own and smiling gently.

"This is Traukon Brightbelly. Traukon, this is Elaine Sforza. My partner" Estaria introduced, getting a light wave from Elaine.

"Partner in fighting?" Traukon asked. Clearly, the cultural barrier went both ways, but Elaine was always on hand to be tactful about it.

"In love~" Elaine would explain, moving down to kiss Estaria's lips with tender passion.

"Ohh...Hmmm..." Traukon would look around and then stand up and nod. "I should get back to my brothers, the meeting will begin shortly. It was nice to meet you" Traukon said, heading off deeper into the Dwarf Camps.

"You scared him off" Estaria commented, standing up so she could give Elaine a proper kiss.

"A girl could get used to that. Jealously protecting what is mine~" Elaine cooed, before taking Estaria's hand and giving it a light tug. "Though, in this instance at least. I came to tell you about this Dwarven merchant that is offering to work on people's gear. I thought you might want your stuff touched up before we get there. It's not like you are here to cook~" Elaine teased, pulling her love through the camps.

"Hey, I can cook!" Estaria exclaimed, managing to actually get that out this time.

"And I can stab things, but you don't see me in the army~"

 

Torment of her beloved aside, Estaria did arrive at the Dwarven merchant eventually. Estaria didn’t have much in the way of money, but found this a great time to learn the exchange rate. Double-tapping the coin counter on the inventory, she converted ten coins to Thrones, just to see. And out came a hefty bag, that once counted out, had a hundred thrones in it. 1:10 exchange rate….While this would make it hard to use real world wealth to fortify her game currency, it would allow her to do practically anything she desired in the world. Armed with this new, near-infinite wealth, she headed to the stand, and talked. He had followed the mercenary armies up from Altdorf and made a venerable fortune on their equipment, which he would take home with him. Unlike Dawi, this one was no warrior, which he did not see as a huge problem since his family had lived in Altdorf for hundreds of years, and they were small Empire citizens now, not Karak dwellers.

 

This did not stop them from being exceptional craftsman though, and Estaria put in her pistols, shield and armour for some rework and repair. After a little bit of thought, the sword also went. She paid the full two hundred thrones, and then a tip for express. A bit of small talk later - gregariousness came naturally when it was literally part of your job - and she was back in her tent with Elaine. There was some teasing that implied Elaine was about to use this tent for more than just sleeping, and then she quickly announced she needed to help with the cooking, and vanished.

Flustered and alone, Estaria internally scowled at her terrible minx of a girlfriend, and then opened up her inventory. The B-rank dungeon key was there - though she needed to buy a new breastplate and longsword from the shop because hers were being worked on - and so did just that and used a B-rank Dungeon key. She was going to get some money and xp grinding in a dungeon, and not targeting the boss because she got trashed last time.

 

This time, there were no Beastmen, but instead Greenskins. A large and rambling camp of goblins and orcs, expanding quite a distance. She couldn’t see the center of the camp from where she was, but she was sure the Warboss was there. She wanted to know where to avoid, but she could always run away or leave the dungeon if it came to that. She wasn’t planning to stick around for completion after all. Darting in, she used her speed and strength to drive the blade through an Orc’s back and then tear him in half, before dispatching the group of goblins he was harassing with her shield, and some kicks. Goblin punting was surprisingly fun, as it turned out, and she could aim them pretty precisely to use them as projectiles. These were slave goblins more than warrior goblins, so she went through them easily, and a punted goblin smacked on the back of a feasting Orc, which then turned and upon seeing Estaria, roared.

 

The hulking mass then charged at her while the rest of the Orc gathered themselves to charge with him. Having learned from the Minotaur, Estaria leapt over the Orc, spinning and slicing her blade into his helmet. But, such a simple blade could not pierce an Orc’s helmet and skull with a single swing, so she merely cut his head and then deflected the second orc’s axe. It was a strong blow, but her stats these days were high enough to take it with little problem. Estaria took her blade to the next Orc and crashed it against his breastplate, only to have the damn thing crack and split in half.

 

She let out a surprised yelp and got smashed to the ground by another Orc for her troubles, rolling quickly to recover and discarding the hilt of the broken blade. Her Blade Of Ulric was something of great durability and strength, but simple mould-forged broadsword was not going to help her in this kind of fight, with her kind of strength. So she grabbed the axe from one of the fallen Orcs and got a little ping off to the side, telling her there was a new tutorial note. Something for later that.

 

Now facing off against all these creatures, she noticed there was no Luck bar. All Orcs counted as Monsters, and so had a lot of health and no Luck. Which, was interesting, so she could just get stuck in with this all-too-heavy axe and start butchering. It broke eventually, but she simply replaced it with another fallen weapon and turned the Orcs into mince meat. The Dungeon kept enforced creature zones, so no Orc moved from their zone to where she was, leaving her to kill with impunity. After they were all dead, Estaria looked up the Tutorial and saw it was about Racials. Weapons she lacked any Racial Proficiency in would have reduced damage and durability, which explained why they broke as quickly as they did.

 

She would need to be careful, and keep a bunch of weapons around so she didn’t end up breaking and running out. Still, even the B-rank orcs were not a huge problem so long as she stayed out of the large zone, with the Trolls and Black Orcs. So she went about it, catching some rests between killing, and after a few hours, she left the Dungeon. No gold reward and half loot, but that still netted her a tidy five grand and two level-ups, which was nice. Took her a long time to get those levels, but she was grinding mooks...so it was all swings and roundabouts, really. She’d get her next trait at 27 tomorrow, since they were waiting here for three days for everyone to turn up, and then join in this expedition with great confidence. Things really were looking up for her.

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