NOVEL WEB Chapter 12: Intended use
Jeler rushed in, his status screen in front of his face. The screen was translucent, so he could see through it enough to know what his boss was doing. By keeping his body low to the ground, he could hide behind the floating blue box which had proved to be impervious to physical blows.
Just as he hoped, she began strafing to the side. The screen wasn't very wide, so finding an angle of attack was easy unless you were directly in front of it. Jeler brought both of his daggers to the side, forming an ex with them. He caught the long staff between the blades and ran up its length, charging toward its owner. Riniox heaved, trying to swing the pole in an effort to knock him away, but the wood hit the screen and stopped cold. Then, Riniox suddenly found herself moving sideways away from Jeler with great force, the momentum of her swing causing her to pivot off of the screen. She lost her balance slightly and tried to recorrect her form. But Jeler was on her in an instant. He leaped forward and swung his head to the side at knee height. His screen hit her lower legs and completely robbed her of the balance she had been trying to maintain. She began to fall, and Jeler quickly brought his knives down in a dangerous arc.
She caught the blades mid-motion, letting the staff fall away and holding his knives from the bladed side. Even as she hit the ground, she kept her grip on the blades and regarded Jeler. He released his weapons and threw himself back quickly, not trusting that he had the advantage anymore. He knew that there was no way he could get the blades back from her now that they were in her hands. Riniox stood slowly, keeping an eye on him in case he had some trick up his sleeve. Jeler almost always used tricks. People called him a coward, but that was because they usually lost to him. But he intended to try and use the system almost exclusively in this fight. Hopefully, it would help Jack know what needed to be improved.
His boss tossed the blades behind her and cracked her knuckles menacingly, then charged in leaving her staff in the dirt. Jeler flinched at that, he was safer at more of a range. In a fistfight, Riniox was his better by far. Faster, stronger, with more reach and experience, she was truly a monster. He had never beaten her in hand-to-hand or grappling, but his experiments with the status screen might just give him a chance.
She charged in, throwing a punch that could knock him out in one blow. She left her side open, baiting him to try and engage. He stepped into her space but didn't try and strike. The fist whizzed by his head and he could hear the air rush past his ears. Riniox followed up by trying to wrap him in a bear hug, her arms moving to crush him.
"Status." His screen opened in front of him and pushed her backward in response. As soon as she was fully moved back he looked down, his screen moving down with him and he brought his legs up, curling into a ball midair. Then he kicked at the close button on his screen, causing it to disappear. However, the kick off of the surface allowed him to push himself up and jump higher into the air than he normally did. The whole process took less than a second, and he ascended high into the sky. Riniox looked up at him in surprise, but before she could prepare a stance for a midair opponent, he performed the action again in midair. He leaped off the status screen midair and somersaulted, bringing his leg down with impressive force.
His leg crashed into Riniox, hitting her around her on the collarbone instead of her head, where he had been aiming. She had been able to begin to dodge before the blow slammed into her. She grunted in pain but managed to grab his leg before he could retreat.
The fight ended quickly after that, Riniox had a grip on Jeler and proceeded to throw him around at her leisure, slamming him into the dirt over and over. He attempted to break free only twice before the impact against the ground knocked him out.
Riniox put him on the ground and called one of the humans over. Jack watched as the new woman cast some kind of magic. Black tendrils of energy seeped from her hands and moved into Jeler's body. The cat man sat up with a start, then grabbed at his head in pain.
Reph and Jack started walking over together. Jack wanted to see if everyone was okay.
"Boss, why do you have to throw me so hard?" Jeler complained loudly.
"Because pain is a good teacher!" The woman loudly declared. "As an example, I'll be more mindful of your midair acrobatics in the future." She held a hand over her collarbone which was already bruising. "Isella, come fix me up!"
The new woman, Isella, came over and cast magic on the demon in front of her. "Heal!" the woman intoned, and once more black tendrils wormed into where Riniox was injured and then vanished. Jack watched with interest at the magic. Black healing magic...It was different than he thought it would be. Usually, in games or stories, it was green or golden energy. Black tendrils that moved into a person's body were visually creepy.
Jeler came over and seemed fine, with no evidence of his spar visible other than dirt on his clothes where he had hit the ground. "Jack, this screen is really useful! I've never gotten a hit on the boss that easily, especially without getting beaten up first." He seemed to be in a good mood despite the ragdoll treatment he had gotten minutes ago.
"Oh well, it's not exactly meant to be used like that. Honestly, I might try to make it less durable. The physics of it are a bit odd too." Jack mused, thinking of the changes he would probably need to make.
Jelers expression fell a bit. "Oh...guess I probably shouldn't rely on this too much then." He seemed sad that his new technique would be erased so soon.
Jack suddenly felt guilty. It was like giving a child a Christmas present and then telling them they couldn't play with it. Well, the fight had been cool! He had never imagined using the status screen like that. Maybe he could have Deis make some kind of system combat skills? He spoke again to Jeler, "Well, I can't promise anything but I'll see if I can keep some features in that let you do that."
"Really?" Jeler's face lit up. "I have some other ideas about this kinda stuff. Do you take suggestions?"
Jack was surprised. Here was someone offering their advice on how to develop the system. Jack had thought that a system was so alien to a fantasy world that no one would have any interesting insight. "I'd love to hear your ideas. But I have a ton of work that needs to get done first. The system still doesn't do anything yet."
Jeler nodded, "Well let me know if I can help at all."
"You can!" Jack said enthusiastically. "I need some information about the races and skills of this world. The more people I can get to help the better."
Jeler absorbed this information and then called Riniox over. "Jack needs help with the system. Can we use the training grounds for a meeting?"
"Sure." Riniox nodded. Then she yelled loud enough for the entire clearing to hear. "Gather up!"
The gathering of people who had been milling about all ran up instantly, forming up in neat orderly ranks at the command.
Riniox marched in front of the lines of mercenaries "This is Jack! He's been sent by the High Deity to do some great work. We are all in the unique position to take advantage of that fact. Tell him whatever he needs to know, and treat him with respect." As she said those last words she glared at the bore-bots in attendance (Reph excluded). Jack noticed for the first time that the other bore-bots were all looking at him uncomfortably and looking at Reph with hostility. He would have to ask Reph later.
Riniox brought him in front of everyone, and he grew a bit nervous. Public speaking had never been something he enjoyed. Deciding he had better just get on with it, he spoke. "Hello everyone. My name is Jack and I am here to help Deis implement a new form of magic to change the world."
There were audible gasps at his words from some members of the crowd, and several more people began to glare at him sharply. Riniox frowned a bit, but shouted out "Quiet down!" Then once the murmuring stopped, she gestured for Jack to continue.
He wasn't sure what he had done wrong, and his nerves were getting to him. He glanced around worriedly before his eyes landed on Jeler and Reph who both gave him smiles and a thumbs up. Somehow the small gesture cheered him up slightly, and he steeled himself. "I don't have much knowledge and experience when it comes to this world and its people. If I want to do my job properly I need information and discussion. The simplest thing to do is grant some of you the [Status] skill and then compare you to each other. I need volunteers, preferably people with similar skillsets but from different races."
He paused, waiting for a response from the gathered people. A few of them seemed eager, stepping forward quickly to volunteer. Others however only glared at him, not moving an inch. Once everyone had made clear whether they accepted Jack's offer or not, he had about fifteen people willing to work with him. Riniox nodded approvingly, then shouted out, "Everyone not participating, clear off! There's a lot of work to do and we're expecting company!" The remaining mercenaries walked off, seemingly to go do other work.
Jack had everyone line up, then began to cast his magic.