While I’m annoyed my great kick only did one damage, I can guess that’s because I don’t have the appropriate skill. I probably need Goalie Kick Attack skill or something. Still, the attack puts the Goombie far enough away to give me a chance to pick up a tree branch from the forest floor. I’m not sure if it’s the same one I had before, but it doesn’t matter. If it breaks, I’ll pick up another one.
The rest of the fight isn’t too hard, and I only take another four points of damage before the Goombie lies still, his health points finally hitting zero.
I remember I wanted to try my ability Absorb and that I only have a few seconds before the body disappears. I kneel down, put my hand on the body of the deceased Goombie and activate Absorb. I feel a pull of energy and my hand glows white, absorbing the body it’s touching. Nothing is left of the Goombie body after the white light fades away from my hand.
Absorb has failed to capture the essence of the defeated foe. Please try again.
What? So, it takes the body and doesn’t do anything? It doesn’t even leave any loot now. I pull up the description of the ability. Well, doesn’t that figure. The description says ‘User has the chance to absorb the essence of a defeated foe from their corpse.’ Ugh. That means that the skill isn’t guaranteed to do anything, it only has a chance at working. But it still doesn’t say what it does. I check my character sheet, and it seems that the ability uses ten points of TP.
Well, I might as well call it a day. A quick check on my health shows it’s at 57/100 and not improving any. I can only guess that if I want to recover my health in here, I’ll have to find some spell or item. I turn around, intending to head back to the cave and the red door when I realize that I don’t have any idea how to get back there. I look around, and all the trees look the same to me. A sense of being lost grows in me, and I have to push down the panic welling up. I wish my phone worked so I could at least see a map or something when I remember that I purchased both the Mapping skill and the Dungeon Mapping subskill. I say, “Map,” and a blue window appears with a map on it. Most of the map is covered in black, but the areas that I’ve walked through are revealed. There’s also a little arrowhead in the dead center of the map that I assume represents me. I turn to the left and right, and the little arrow turns with me on the map. Yup, that’s me.
Backtracking using the map is more time consuming and difficult than I thought it would be. The map stays oriented with North being up, but I turn around all kinds of ways as I walk making it difficult to orient myself. I find I have to change the size of the map and hold it in one hand as I walk or it will just stay stuck in the air. Unfortunately, the effort of trying to follow the map distracts from what’s happening around me. This leads me into unintentionally walking into several fights. I feel like it takes at least another hour to reach the cave entrance and along the way, I take twenty-eight points of damage from two Goombies and three Blobs. The last kill gets me just enough experience points to make level two, at least that’s what the System message says as I’m enveloped in bright light. I don’t think it’s the best idea to go looking through my Character Sheet in the middle of this forest, so I make a mental note to look over everything when I get back home.
One thing I work on during the walk back to the cave is figuring out what Absorb does. So, I use it on each of the bodies that are left over after the fights. I understand that by using the skill, I forgo any loot they may have dropped. However, figuring out exactly what this ability does, might mean the difference between winning a fight and losing it someday. I use the ability on the remains of each monster I defeat, but it’s not until I kill and absorb the last Blue Blob outside the cave that I finally get a something other than a ‘failed to capture the essence of the defeated foe’ notification.
Absorb has successfully captured the essence of the defeated foe. You’ve learned the ability Roll.
Excitedly, I look up my Abilities and see Roll sitting right under Absorb.
Roll
G
Active
Ready to roll? For a small TP cost, you can roll with increased speed when you activate this ability. To activate it, just think or say ‘Roll’ with the intent to use the ability.
Well, I might as well test this thing out before I leave, right? I mean it would attract a bunch of attention if I tested it out in the mall. What if the ability gives me sonic the hedgehog powers and I can roll and spin in a little ball or something?
As I face the cave entrance, I say, “Roll,” and feel myself fall forward. I think I’m going to hit my head but my body automatically tucks my noggin down, and I see the whole world spin around as my body rolls forward along the floor. I try to scream, ‘Stop Roll’ but it just comes out ‘Roll.' Again, I feel another burst of momentum as my body rolls forward again out of my control. I’m grateful when my body slams into the cave wall and comes to a stop. I think I see a red five float away from me, but it’s hard to tell since I’m upside down.
I get to my feet with a bit of effort and have to put a hand out and lean against the stone wall of the cave to steady myself. Once the room stops spinning, I walk into the cave and make my way to the red door. I can’t see it at first, but I remember the arrow I made on the floor out of rocks. The door appears as I stand behind the arrow, and I walk through it.
Chapter 16
As I exit the red door on the side of the mall, I suddenly have a greater appreciation for air conditioning. The world on the other side of the door was a bit warm for my tastes, and all that walking and monster killing worked up a sweat. I hear the door close behind me, and I just stand there, my eyes closed, enjoying the cold air for a minute.
Opening my eyes, I’m worried about how much time has passed. I mean I’m still supposed to make dinner for Marie and go to my evening classes, and I had to have been inside that dungeon for at least four or five hours. As I start to jog along towards the mall escalator, I catch a glimpse of a clock above the food court. The sight causes me to stop in my tracks and stare. The large clock face says that it’s only 3 pm, which means that only two hours have passed since I entered the dungeon. That can’t be right, can it? I mean, I climbed down the mountain, talked to that old man, and wandered through the forest fighting monsters. My sense of how much time has passed is usually pretty spot on. Then I remember one of the features that I can upgrade at my home base slows down time outside the base. Perhaps this is the natural characteristics of the dungeons? I shrug. Whatever the reason, I won’t turn my nose up at a couple of extra hours to get stuff done.
I take a single step towards the escalator when another aspect of this world recalled to my mind. The home base key. Here I was, ready to take a long hour-long bus ride back home when I have a magic key that will create a portal to my home base, my bedroom. I elicit strange looks from the people in the mall as I do a little happy dance at all the time and money I’ll save not having to take a bus ride back home anymore. Hell, I could travel to faraway lands on a one-way plane ticket and return home instantly. I could make a killing as a transporter. I mean, assuming people only wanted to make a trip to my home.
I backtrack and walk up to one of the empty shops next to the dungeon. Looking around to make sure that no one is watching, I take my home base key out of my inventory and insert it into the glass door. The transformation into a green wooden door only takes a moment, and when it’s complete, a blue box appears.