I Am Gamer III Read online

  “Also, the Seal animal training I think I would like to participate, and you should make any and all who join us take part.” He said, in a way that was more an order then a suggestion, then walked away before I could answer.

  I thought about what he said, and they sounded like good ideas, I just hoped the old man was up for it. I walked a few feet away and found a nice comfortable looking rock and grabbed a seat. Then when I was settled tabled the thoughts and accessed the first of my messages.

  EXPERIENCE ASSESSED… DOUBLE EXPERIENCE ASSIGNED FOR KILLING A MONSTER TWICE YOUR LEVEL…

  EXTRA EXPERIENCE ASSESSED FOR DEFEATING MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED MONSTERS WITH ONE ATTACK…

  EXTRA EXPERIENCE FOR ALL WARRIORS ASSESSED FOR DEFEATING OVER FIVE HUNDRED ENEMIES…

  EXTRA EXPERIENCE ASSESSED FOR SEAL TEAM…

  YOU HAVE GAINED 7470 EXPERIENCE… WESLEY ‘FREAK’ WRATH, 6510 EXPERIENCE GAINED… BROTHERS IN ARMS 5865 EXPERIENCE GAINED… SEAL TEAM SKILL ACQUIRED: GUNNERS

  GUNNERS (Level – 1)

  By working together as a team and becoming familiar with the usage of guns, this skill allows the use of rapid fire. The motion of loading of powder and bullet in one action, halving the time needed to reload. This skill will upgrade with usage and ability.

  LEVEL FIVE UPGRADES ARE AS FOLLOWS: FIVE EXTRA ATTRIBUTE POINTS… LEVEL FIVE FAMILIAR EXTRA POINTs AVAILABLE…

  LEVEL FIVE SKILL UPGRADE FOR BROTHERS IN ARMS AVAILABLE…

  6 POINTs AVAILABLE FOR DISTRIBUTION… POINTS AVAILABLE FOR UPGRADE…

  WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEVEL UP YOURSELF AND FAMILIAR? Y/N?

  You are goddamn right I do, holy shit we just dinged two levels! and were well on our way to level six. I closed the window and pulled up the next screen.

  FAMILIARS SKILLS UPGRADED…

  FURRY ARMORED HIDE (LEVEL – 4)

  The skin of the Familiar becomes even stronger, allowing it to easily shrug off even blows that would fell a normal animal, along with a. The hide becomes a toughness equal to that of Chain Mail armor.

  FURIOUS ROAR (LEVEL – 3)

  The Furious roar is so loud, not only does it stun its target with fear, for a period of thirty seconds, in a radius of fifty feet around it, the roar gains a physical aspect. Anything within ten feet, surrounding the roar will be knocked prone and has a 10 percent chance of being dazed.

  SKILL LEARNED…

  PRETERNATURAL GRACE (LEVEL – 1) – 2 Points needed for upgrade

  The speed and agility of the Familiar is honed to that of almost preternatural ability, seeming to almost see attacks coming before they are launched. This ability grows with leveling and due to the bonding with Jack-of-all-Trades, it is shared in a small amount that grows with level as well.

  NAME – Wesley ‘Freak’ Wrath – Familiar

  PET CLASS – Battle Tiger – Purple – Legendary

  LEVEL – 5

  EXPERIENCE – 8468//10000

  HIT POINTS – 50/50

  WEAPONS – Claws x 4, Bite x 2

  SKILLS – Furry Armored Hide (Level – 4), Furious Roar (Level – 3), Preternatural Grace (Level – 1)

  ARMOR – Furry Armored Hide

  There is one main animal companion to the Jack-of-all-Trades, the Familiar. The class only allows up to three animal companions and the Familiar is the first of the three. By receiving a portion of his master’s experience, the Familiar will level up and gain skills of its own alongside its master. Leveling will increase communication between Familiar and master over longer distances and with greater clarity.

  NAME – Lawrence ‘Law” Wrath

  RACE – Half Human

  ALIGNMENT – Neutral Good

  CLASS – Jack of all Trades

  TITLES EARNED – War Shaman, Master Sculptor, Captain, SEAL Team Leader

  EXPERIENCE – 9151/10000

  LEVEL – 5

  HIT POINTS – 76/76

  MAGIC POINTS – 74/74

  FEATURES

  HEIGHT – 6’5”, WEIGHT – 275 LBS, HAIR COLOR – Black, EYE COLOR – Amber, SKIN COLOR – Bronze

  ATTRIBUTES

  STRENGTH – 10, DEXTERITY – 10, CONSTITUTION – 10, INTELLIGENCE – 9, WISDOM – 9, CHARISMA – 9

  COMPANIONS

  Fiancé – Moon Flower – INFORMATION NOT AVAILABLE

  Brother-in-Arms – Sir William O’ Conghaile (Billy) – Level 5 – EXP – 6270/10000

  Brother-in-Arms – Sir Patrick O’ Conghaile (Patty) – Level 5 – EXP – 6179/10000

  ANIMAL COMPANIONS

  Familiar – Westley ‘Freak’ Wrath – Level 5 – EXP – 8468/10000

  Mount – Winston ‘Triumph’ Wrath – INFORMATION NOT AVAILABLE

  NEW ABILITIES LEARNED…

  SKILL INTERFACE SHARING (LEVEL – 1)

  You have learned the ability to share the interface to all your Elite Warriors. By doing so they gain a personal interface and the same abilities to level up and grow. If activated this ability will auto-assign unless otherwise specified.

  AWAKENING (LEVEL – 1)

  All Elites will gain innate magic based on their tribes or their own personal skills and abilities.

  WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACTIVATE SKILL INTERFACE SHARING NOW? IF ACTIVATED ALL ELITE WARRIORS WILL TAKE OVER THEIR OWN LEVELING AND GROWTH?

  “The long canoes are ready.” Arun said, pulling me from my screens.

  “You have enough long canoes for all of us, wait, what’s a long canoe?” I asked, curiously.

  “They are like regular canoes but bigger. You shall see, anyway with all the fallen, we have… spares.” Arun said, solemnly.

  “Ah… yeah… I’m sorry Arun, you lost a lot of fine warriors today.” I replied.

  “Yes, but one great thing about having the Ojibwe and Norse pantheons is that our tribe believes in Valhalla as well as our traditional beliefs. All of these men who lost their lives in battle are better off than those that The Great Suffering took.” He said, with conviction.

  “That is a practical way to think of it.” I said, impressed by his pragmatism.

  “It just is. Now, my men have finished stacking the bodies of the slain monsters, not the bottom half of the Kuku, that is stuck tight, and the bodies of our fallen warriors in separate areas. We made a pyre for our men using the remains of the river fort, we are just burning the monsters in a large pile. Are you ready to go?” Arun asked.

  “Yes, but I need to make sure Billy finds his sword.” I replied.

  “The little man found it just a bit ago, turns out he has some kind of connection with it much like my hammer.” Arun said, hefting his giant war hammer for me to see.

  “What connection is that? Never mind tell me on the way, let’s get this show on the road as they say.” I said, clapping the big man on the back.

  “Who says that?” He asked.

  “Never mind, are you going to hold a memorial for the fallen?” I asked, changing the subject.

  “Yes, I will light the pyre and then we will leave.” He replied.

  “That’s it?” I asked, surprised at the simplicity of it.

  “Yes, the gods know the hearts and minds of their children.” Arun stated, as if it was common knowledge.

  We walked a little way over to the ruined fort turned funeral pyre. I nodded to my crew who were standing by, while the Viking Natives were in the front. I paused and Arun continued to the front. Someone handed him a torch, it was the same guy that had been guarding the stairwell. I’m glad he survived. I should ask his name.

  Arun stood there for a moment, then nodded once and shouted, tossing the burning torch on the pyre. Everyone watched until the whole thing was blazing then Arun turned, grabbed another torch and walked over to the monster pile. He tossed it on the monsters and then walked away, his warriors following along without a second glance.

  I shrugged to my friends and then motioned after them and we walked down to a small secluded cove.

  “Would you look at that, these fuckers have their own little Vik
ing armada.” Patty said, with a whistle.

  I nodded and looked around impressed. The long canoes as Arun called them resembled small Viking Longboats. Now wonder they had been impressed but not awed with the former Enterprise. We made it to the long canoes and two were allocated to us, each fit up to six people. Cunning Wolf, Shadow Bear, Billy, Freak, and me took one while Patty, Dusk, Dawn, Silent Mouse, Thunder Foot, and Lightning Fist took the other. Arun was in the lead and his warriors were already out in the water. We pushed our long canoes in the river and followed along.

  He had said their fort town, Thrudheim, was only a dozen miles away. We made good time on the river and it was quite peaceful out after the battle we’d just had. I had my Danger Sense on full alert, everyone was keyed up, and then nothing happened. So, since we had a few miles to go I reopened my messages. I clicked the option for the brothers and other elites to level themselves up from now on, activating the new skill. This was great I could now focus on other things and they could handle their own growth. It would be new to them, but they’d have time figure it out during the canoe ride or whenever, teach a man to fish and all that.

  WAR SHAMAN

  TRIBES – THE PEOPLE, THE JICARILLA, TUATHA DE DANAAN

  ELITE WARRIORS – Moon Flower, William O’ Conghaile, Patrick O’ Conghaile, Chieftess Screaming Eagle, Thunder Foot, Ice Blossom, Lightning Fist, Night Star, Silent Mouse, Shadow Bear, Dancing Lion, Stone Fox, Dusk, Dawn

  SHAMAN – Cunning Wolf (Element-Earth/God-Wolf)

  NORMAL MEMBERS – N/A THE PEOPLE WORKER/WARRIORS, N/A JICARILLA BUILDER/WARRIORS

  BASES – The Springs, Fortress of Earth

  RESOURCES COLLECTED – Wood-Abundant, Metals-Iron/Gold/Silver/Tin-Abundant, Food-Abundant, Animals-Horses x N/A

  VEHICLES

  N/A

  “By Dagda’s left testicle this amazing!” Billy exclaimed.

  “This… this… this… well fuck me…” Patty trailed off, words failing him.

  This was literally the first time I’d ever heard him speechless. I closed my windows chuckling softly. Shouts of greeting sounded out ahead of us as we rounded a bend in the river. The ride had been nice, and I was glad we made it to our destination without incident. When the fort town came into view I nodded in satisfaction.

  “Would you look at that, that’s a proper fucking fort town.” Patty called.

  The big Viking Native leader had stopped his long canoe right around the riverbend and was waiting for us. He heard Patty’s shout and laughed.

  “Welcome to Thrudheim!” Arun called with a grin, gesturing widely at the scene behind him.

  TRACK 6 – ONLY IN DREAMS – WEEZER

  I brought up my mini map and saw where we were in correlation to The Springs. We had come to the spot where the Platte turns into the Missouri and meets the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, it’s like a three-way intersection. It was the perfect place for a fort and settlement, a literal trading hub at the confluence of three main riverways. Not only that, but there was a bridge fort over each river and all three connected. Each of these was as large as or larger than the one that had just been destroyed and very similar in make.

  “Wow, this is unexpected Arun.” I called out to the big man, our boats following the rest and heading into the closest river fort that was in our path.

  “Yes, we have been constructing Thrudheim for the last year. It is our largest and most fortified town, second only to our main home Asgard. I have been gone for months and the construction here has advanced more than when we left. We will go and meet directly with Sage he is in the main lodge and is the de facto leader of Thrudheim.” Arun explained.

  I just nodded and kept studying the fortified town. We passed through the gate, this one twice as large as the one destroyed by the Kuku, big enough for two Enterprises to pass through side by side with plenty of room. The inside of the town was engineered quite ingeniously. It was a hexagon with three sides being the river forts and then the other three palisades with pathways connecting them. The three rivers connected with a large lake in the center and small hillocks dotting the insides. On these were small timber lodges with rivulets large enough for the small Viking boats to travel on.

  The place was a like a tiny Norse style Venice. I laughed at the comparison. The whole place was amazing and reinforced better than the destroyed river fort. Still, I thought back to that giant Kuku and if a few of those attacked, this place would be so much kindling and dead bodies. Well, I wasn’t going to let that happen. I was going to make this place into a defensive bastion, Mont St. Michel style baby.

  There were lots of folk about, not warriors exactly, lots of woman, children, and older folks. They were going about the business of running a town. It was very similar to The People and the Jicarilla, the main differences being the Viking Natives themselves and the style of what they were doing. The clothing was Scandinavian in style but made of hides and with flairs of Native tribal influence, Ojibwe specifically, art and decoration.

  Then there were the Ojibwe themselves, they were like cross breeds of Vikings and Natives. I saw blonde hair, red hair, blue eyes, hazel, and green all different mishmashes but with tan skin. They were handsome folk. It hadn’t hit me earlier due to all the fighting and stuff, but these were the descendants of Viking explorers and the Native Ojibwe Indians. It had to be at least fifteen to twenty generations for this kind of genetic homogeneousness to happen.

  “By the gods these women are some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.” Patty said softly.

  I just nodded, thinking thoughts of my fiancé and not of these, exotic is probably the nicest way to describe them, women. Puppies and kittens and Moon Flower. I swallowed and then we were there, our boat bumping lightly on a roughhewn timber dock. Arun hopped ashore and I followed along, Freak and Cunning Wolf joining me. He told the rest of his men to show the others in my party to where they were staying, then to get some food and cleanup.

  The lodge we arrived at wasn’t very large and was spartan in nature. Arun gestured for us to go inside through the open double doors. We obliged, and when inside I saw the interior was just as plain as the exterior. Just a large firepit in the center and seating on the ground around it. It was more like a Shaman’s yurt then a Viking or Native Chiefs home. Then I noticed the figure in the center of the room by the fire and he garnered my full attention.

  It was an old man, one of those guys who could be sixty or a hundred. An ageless old man. Kind of like a Kung-Fu Master or old Indian Yogi, this guy seemed like a cross between both, with a little Burt Reynolds thrown in, old Burt not young Burt. Although, maybe if I squinted I could some Smoky and the Bandit in the old guy. He wore buckskin robes, plain with no decoration, and had a long white beard and mustache with big bushy eyebrows and wrinkles around his eyes, showing he smiled or frowned, or both, a lot.

  “Sage Lokison, this is War Shaman Lawrence Lawrence Wrath.” Arun said, bowing slightly to the man and then gesturing to me.

  “Yes, yes, War Shaman of The People, the Jicarilla, and soon to be of us, the Norse Ojibwe. I know, both sides of the pantheon told me.” The man said, cutting Arun off and turning from the fire. “I am Sage Lokison the Shaman and Skald of the Norse Ojibwe. It is nice to meet you both, Cunning Wolf, Wolf sends his regards as does Coyote, Law. I may call you Law?” Sage asked.

  I shared a look with the Jicarilla shaman who just shrugged, looking a bit nonplussed.

  “He does that all the time. Don’t take it personally, you get used to it.” Arun said, with wink.

  “My nephew is correct. I do have that tendency. As I was saying, my gods have spoken to me and we are to join your collection of tribes and fight off the invading enemies of us all, the bringers of The Great Suffering. Let us get the oaths over with and move on to magic. I’m also to teach you Water Magic. Hurry time is wasting.” Sage said rapidly.

  “Ah… ok.” I stammered.

  “Good. I will speak for the entirety of the Norse Ojibwe tribe. Kneel boy.�
� Sage said, dropping to one knee, his nephew Arun following suit.

  “We the Norse Ojibwe pledge to follow you and become part of The People. We are yours War Shaman.” The two men said, in unison.

  My periphery lit up and a message appeared.

  DO YOU ACCEPT THE NORSE OJIBWE TRIBE AS MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE? Y/N?

  “I accept the Norse Ojibwe as part of The People.” I said, following my words with actions and mentally selecting the yes option.

  More messages arrived but I ignored them for now instead focusing on Sage and Arun, who were now standing and looking off into the distance. It seemed as if they had messages of their own, the new skill was working. Sage came to first and shook his head and then looked at me.

  “Balder had said this would happen yet I wasn’t quite prepared, this will take some getting used to.” Sage said.

  “Don’t worry just follow the prompts, you will catch on quick.” I said with a smile.

  “They are just discovering the messages then?” Cunning Wolf said knowingly. “Don’t worry one gets used to it.”

  “Yes, well, let us quickly have you learn Water Magic.” Sage said, distractedly.

  “Huh?” I said, intelligently.

  “You are supposed to learn the magic of water with me, so let us do it, and quickly. These screens as you call them intrigue me.” Sage said.

  “Ok, let’s do it.” I replied, when in Rome and all that.

  “Good, now close your eyes picture flowing water, rivers, lakes, and such. Chop, Chop.” Sage said, quickly.

  I closed my eyes doing as he said, the images coming quickly, his rushing me had a positive effect and I seemed to subconsciously hurry.

  “Do you have it? Good, now imagine the water in your hand.” He hurried along.

  I grinned at my inner self and did as he instructed, hurrying to comply as fast as I could and then I just felt it.