Chapter 8: BoomShot

  “It'll take some time with my backlog, come back in a day or two,” Sam ywaned as the blacksmith tapped her foot on the nearby furnace petal.

  “That soon?” Fisk said, eyes wide.

  “Perks of being the best blacksmith around, one learns to work quickly,” Sam grumbled as Faith came frantically running back into the workshop to quickly cover Fisk up.

  “Thanks Sam! We gotta go, we'll be back to pick it up later! Thanks!” Faith said as the sound of adventurers chatting pricked Fisk's ears.

  “Yeah yeah.”

  He was on the move, Fisk eyeing the people in armor through his peephole.

  That was until one of them looked his way.

  Shit.

  “Hey!” The man reached out, grabbing Faith by her wrist and stopping the woman in her tracks. “Do you have a quest?”

  “What? No, sorry."

  "Are you sure? Just give us a little bit of xp."

  "Hey, I'm busy, please leave me alone!” Faith replied.

  “Whoa, hey now, we meant no disrespect hottie,” Another player said, “How about you come hangout with us?”

  Fisk caressed his sawed-off, his weapon ready to fire as he listened to the pair harass his benefactor.

  “I'll pass,” Faith hissed, jerking violently away from the two.

  “Aw c’mon! Don't be like that! Do you want gifts? Abe, give her a gift, I got told you can romance any bot if you give them stuff.”

  “Why would I want to romance a berry picker?”

  “Cuz she's hot? Maybe she'll let you see into her basket haha.”

  “Fine I'll try it,” The other player said, pulling out an item.

  “Pass,” Faith said, resulting in a groan.

  “Negative aura.”

  “Shut up, why-”

  With the pair distracted Faith left, taking Fisk with her who breathed a sigh of relief. Still he kept his gun in hand, with the village teaming with players, he might as well be behind enemy lines.

  As the pair moved through the village, Fisk opened the forums, reading through the stream of messages that had been left on his post.

  -Liar!- By Appearing Pear

  -If I had a nickel every Time people fell for these type of posts I'd be a billionaire- By GodzillaDidNothingWrong

  -Where did you see him exactly?- KonamiKode

  -Has anyone noticed OP doesn't have a profile?- by Parogar

  -Bro what? Everytime I click on his profile it says he doesn't exist???- by HutaoBestGirl

  -Lol OP got banned for false information- by KittenWhiskers

  For a moment, Fisk's heart skipped a beat, but then he noticed that he could still post.

  Interesting… Fisk said to himself before a smirk appeared on his face.

  “We're here,” Faith said, setting Fisk down in the foyer of her home. She lifted the top, carefully, tipping the berry box for Fisk to crawl into the one room floor of the woman's home.

  “Huh…”

  “Huh what?” Faith asked, walking over to a rustic stove where a pot of soup lay covered.

  “Just… expected your place to be… bigger?” Fisk said, looking over to the woman's bed that wasn't that much better than the one in his closet space. In fact, the place was cramped with the dining room table separated from the door by a coat rack laden with jackets.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Why? Are places you come from bigger?”

  “I’m used to even #$$-$&+ being…” Fisk said before trailing off as his words were censored again. “Apartment?”

  Fisk frowned, this time word not censored.

  “Apartment? What's an apartment?” Faith asked.

  “It's a $@&-+(/#$$_…”

  Again his words were censored.

  There was a disconnect here, something censoring his words to prevent him from speaking about the real world but only in certain contexts it seemed.

  Or… what Fisk thought was reality as his hand glided over the wooden floor where it came back a bit dusty.

  “Curse again?” Faith asked, looking to Fisk as she placed her pot of stew on the dining table that took up most of the space.

  “Yeah…” Fisk said, dragging himself to the nearby chair where Faith moved to help. He stopped her, “I got it, thanks. I'm not entirely useless.”

  “So you're not an immortal… but you are... Do you come from a different continent? A different realm? Another land?”

  Unable to speak his thoughts, Fisk merely nodded, his eyes shifting down to the pot of Otterpaw Greenleaf Stew.

  “Is… your land very different?” Faith asked, her body leaning over the table, curiosity clear on her face that couldn't be hidden.

  The origins of the immortals were secret to all. No one knew where they came from. No one knew what their purpose was, only that when they had arrived the monsters that skulked in the wilderness had increased. A cause and effect in play? No one knew.

  Some believed they were heralds of a greater will, others, harbingers of calamity. Of what kind? Uncertain, but the world had adapted to their presence, their tenacity, quirks, and their bottomless hunger for loot and quests.

  Fortunately, with the arrival of the immortals, the Judges had arrived, mysterious beings who kept the immortals in check and protected the denizens of the world. At least… from immortals and if your town or city was blessed to have a judge preside over it.

  Faith eyed Fisk with hungry eyes, her desire to know more piqued. Despite her profession being that of a wine peddler, Faith lusted for more. Desire to learn more about the world outside the confines of the village she had been forced to hide in.

  For years she had been content living this way but something had changed, a feeling that had bothered her ever since discovering Fisk in the woods.

  Fisk exhaled, nodding slightly.

  “A continent?”

  Fisk shook his head no.

  “Realm?”

  Fisk shook his head yes.

  Faith dry swallowed, sitting down, taking a moment to process what this meant.

  Or, at least try to, her mind racked with a sudden headache as if something was pressing at her temples.

  “So uh… can I eat?” Fisk asked, completely transfixed by the aroma of stew that permeated the one bedroom hovel.

  “Y-yeah… help yourself,” Faith said, gesturing to the pot of food that was quickly dug into by Fisk.

  Then, a knock, causing Fisk to jolt as he eyed Faith with wide-eyes.

  “Expecting company?” Fisk said, hand beneath the table with his gun drawn.

  “No. But sometimes immortals show up here to buy my stew and wine,” Fiona said, rising to her feet and noticing the weapon in Fisk's hand as the knocking intensified, “Wait here.”

  Fisk reached over, grabbing a coat off the nearby rack and tossing it over his missing leg.

  “Hello? How can I-”

  “Skip.”

  “....”

  “Skip.”

  “That's very-”

  “Skip.”

  Fisk turned, eyeing the yellow fur player being rude at the door.

  “What do you want?” Faith grumbled, her expression one of clear unhappiness but ignored by the player.

  “Five Red Berry Wines, hurry up,” The player said, his furry faced character attempting to poke his head into Faith's home only to be blocked by the latter.

  “I only have two left, sixty coins each, take it and go, if you want the other three you'll have to come by tomorrow,” Faith said, hastily handing the patron a pair of bottles and trying to send the player on his way.

  “Hey wait… Who's that?” The furry said, noticing Fisk who kept his back to the door but not his face. “I haven't seen you around here.”

  “No one you'd need to concern yourself with. If you keep trying to enter my home I'll call a Judge!” Faith spat, only for the player to barge his way in anyway.

  Fisk clenched his jaw, hand gripping the handle of his gun beneath the coat on his lap as the canine-faced player with the name Sonichu glared down at him.

  “Nobody?” Sonichu muttered, ignoring Faith attempting to move him. But, as the player was observing Fisk, Fisk was also using observe.

  Title: Beast Tamer

  Name: Sonichu

  Level: 14

  Race: Beastkin

  HP: 73/190

  SP: ???/???

  MP: ???/???

  CLASS: Spirit Magician

  STRENGTH: ???

  VITALITY; ???

  SENSE: ???

  DEXTERITY: ???

  ARCANA: ???

  EGO: ???

  TRAITS: Beast-like, ???.

  SKILLS: ???

  SPELLS: ???

  Fisk dry swallowed, the player a whole fourteen levels higher than him with his stats hidden.

  If I attack him he'll just brush it off… unless…

  Fisk eyed his free points and his equipped weapon with Dex scaling. According to the forums, the better your stats, the better your weapon depending on scaling.

  This wasn't how Fisk had wanted to test his gun, but if this was the choice he had…

  “Hey! Who are you? Why can't I see your name?” The fur-freak asked, placing a hand on Fisk's shoulder.

  “Hey! Leave him alone, he's my guest, now leave! This is private property-” Faith screamed, attempting to grab the player only to be shrugged off and thrown to the floor.

  “Why are you being so annoying?!” The player yelled, turning to Faith who looked up with fearful eyes, “Can't you see I'm huh-?”

  The player turned, his eyes staring down the barrels of Fisk's shotgun.

  *BANG!*

  A thunderous boom, followed by the player hitting the floor and evaporating into a stream of light as Fisk sighed and lowered his gun.

  “Great… I think I just fucked up.”