Chapter 2: Hunted

I appear to be at a camp of some kind. Theres only one tent and a fire that's long since gone out. Smoke slowly rises from the pit into the red sky. There seems to be no one else around in this jungle. Just me, the best contaminant speedrunner in the world,  Frexx. I'm kind of a big deal. 

The trees are pretty familiar. In fact I can see quite a few bump spots. I suppose this is the world of containment. If that's true, this large jungle is the only "safe" place left in the world. The rest of it has been claimed by parasites known as the plagued. There's no magic or anything protecting this place from them, its just where all the remaining races grouped up. We're probably losing land on the border as I ponder. Why did everyone gather in this jungle specifically? Its because the plagued's imperative is to infect all biological material. That means the plagued will attack the trees just as aggressively as humans, but trees after they're infected can't do much to attack people. Well unless you want to sit in the same spot for a few months straight so the infected tree can grow some more branches to grab you with.

Onto the actual gameplay,  Contaminant was considered a very hard game back in my old world. People online would complain and say stuff like 'who balanced this shit' and 'the only way to win is to use the cash shop'. To that I have to say SKILL ISSUE! GIT GUD SCRUB! Those are the words of game journalists who get lost bot walking around the tutorial. Sure you have to bounce around like a hyperactive toddler on percs to play optimally, but that's the appeal of the game! Half of those so called "impossible bosses" can lose half their health immediately as the fight starts by setting a trap beforehand and then immediately lose the other half by getting hit with a portal peirce. Is your brain a little too cute and smooth to do all that set up? It has rpg stats, just grind some levels dumbass. You're so overpowered in contaminant that you can fucking bully a boss that's supposed to be a scripted loss. It won't die, but you can sure as hell make a fool out of it.

Oh and lets talk about that cash shop. The runes you buy there to modify your stats can all be earned in game. Not by grinding some free to play cash shop currency or something, no certain enemies and quests will just give you the runes. So if you can only get by early game because you forked out cash to buy runes, you're fucked late game because the fights are balanced around those runes. Unless you're buying cosmetics the cash shop is useless and a waste of money. I've beaten the game hundreds of times without the cash shop because its banned in speed runs for obvious reasons. (Of course if you think it should be allowed you have my condolences, having a mental disability must be rough)

Well that's enough rambling, I should take stock of what I have on hand. My clothes have various pouches, mostly filled with rations. Whoever this body belonged to must've been the outdoorsy type. I also found a pouch with some currency and ... a pocket mirror? It has a strange symbol that I'm unfamiliar with engraved on the back. Its a five sided shape embraced by feathered wings underneath some vines. Seeing my reflection I can easily determine I'm not a character that appeared in the game nor is it my old appearance. I wonder who's body I've taken? Its not like I've gotten their memories or anything... Besides that there's also a sword and sheath that was in the tent. Thank god because going outside in this world unarmed is suicide. 

I suppose I should find some water? There must be some nearby if the previous owner set up camp here. What direction to go though... I look up at the sky and find the blue sun. Rises in the North sets in the South in this world so I guess the direction I'm starting with is East. 

----

It feels like I've been slash canceling for ages, however theres no river to be seen. Instead I reached the border. Mounds of tendrils tower on the horizon. It'd be best turn back before I get into a very drawn out fight. Although I now have my bearing and know where I am on the map. There should be a river to the West from camp.

----

As I near camp I stop. There's a platoon of the order of cyan sol. This was one of the reasons contaminant was considered "difficult". Do anything illegal and these bastards would start hounding you. Newer players would do anything in their power to avoid getting targeted, but that's a mistake. Its pretty easy to accidentally break the law when playing the game. You're seriously limiting your options if you try to play in the confines of the law. No what you should do is use one of the three methods to remove their ire. You can 1 pay off your bounty, 2 join the order through a lengthy side quest, or 3 become a hassle. Of course number 3 is the best solution. The order of cyan sol is the upholders of order, but also the force fighting off the plagued. That means they can't waste to many resources chasing criminals as the majority of them is needed on the front line. It is an unfortunate fact of this world that powerful people, that'd take to many people to deal with, almost never get served justice. Deal enough damage to a platoon and the order will leave you alone. This was considered the optimal play in the speedrun because certain members of the cyan sol dropped runes that were useful for the run as a whole. Of course I have no reason to attack them at the moment so I'll talk to them instead.

"Why hello there! How can I help these officers who've visited my camp?"

They all turn to me. The one who's armor designates them as the lieutenant speaks first.

"I didn't expect the traitor to come to us."

Their voice is feminine. I didn't realize it was a girl because of the tribal style mask covering their face.

"Listen up criminal! You have committed an act of treason upon the Collaborative Council of Sol. If you give yourself up now you may yet live. Do not resist futher!"

Yeesh treason usually means the death sentence. I'm heavily outnumbered and likely underleveled. Looks like I'll have to play "optimally". My hand is already in my pocket. I form a portal just around my finger that leads to behind the platoon.

"Ah my mistake officer, I don't talk to woman."

My comment seems to shock her. Fair enough I suppose.

You are reading story Skill Issue at novel35.com

"What in the 5-

The flare spell is launched through the portal and hurls to their backside. Before it hits them, I hit the projectile with the peircer spell, trading the high single target damage of flare spell for the ability to shut down a crowd. A large concussive blast rings out from behind the platoon knocking most off their mounts. Only one remains on their squirrel unaffected, bingo.

I take out my sword and slash cancel towards the unaffected soldier, while they're still processing what's just happened to the rest of their platoon. To cancel the slash animation and keep my momentum I switch to the portal spell and spawn one behind their squirrel that leads to the area above a tree. I quickly summon power from the world weave. A green string forms from my finger and wraps around the (likely) man's neck as I sail through the portal dragging them with me. As we fall I ensure the string formed from the weave gets caught on a sturdy branch making it act like a noose. As the soldier dies a crystal melts out from their corpse and starts to fall, which I catch after safely landing on the ground. This is the useful rune I mentioned earlier and it seems that my rng is particularly good considering I got a teir 5 rune. The rune reduces damage from spells, including self damage which some tech like flare breach causes. Unless you get at least a teir 3 magic absorb rune your run is toast. Of course the max level version, level 6, will actually give a small heal after getting hit with spells. I lift my shirt and touch the rune to my chest. The crystal sinks right in, just like it was always meant to be there.

"Y-you!"

Oh miss lieutenant and the rest of the bozos seem to have gotten up.

"Welp, dealing with you all would be a waste of both time and the Collaborative Council of Sol's resources, so do you mind fucking off? I think I've made it perfectly clear I'm not worth dealing with since I've dealt with your only counter for magic and truuuuuuuust me, I've got ways to kill you using magic that you couldn't even comprehend."

A soldier presses their squirrel foward,

"You're bluff-"

Their lieutenant stops them.

"We're retreating."

"Celica! Throw your-"

She pulls out a teleport crystal and the whole platoon vanishes, leaving me alone before I even had a chance to hear what that soldier was going to say. 

---------------------------------------------

Celica PoV

She had finished her report to the higher ups so she was alone now. She leans back against a wall as she sits in her room. The higher ups are definitely pissed. They didn't say it up front, but leadership definitely blamed this failure on her remaining sentiments. Celica couldn't blame them. Her loyalty is probably being called into question in a meeting that's happening in their board room. In the morning she'll be met with a suicide mission or exile.

"Haaaaaaa, it seems you've finally wizened up to the ways of this world and to think you were holding back so much power. I don't know whether I should laugh or cry..."

You can find story with these keywords: Skill Issue, Read Skill Issue, Skill Issue novel, Skill Issue book, Skill Issue story, Skill Issue full, Skill Issue Latest Chapter